


You Don't Want These Footsteps In Your Flowerbeds

by regionals



Series: joshler omegaverse stuff [1]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: (in a good way? if thats possible?), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Bakery, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Angst (if you squint), Fluff, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Multi, Omega Josh, Omegaverse, Possessive Behavior, Scent Kink, Slow Build, Slow Burn, alpha Tyler, also hear me out but uh, huhhhh ummm what else do i tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-08-06 03:51:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 55,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16380848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regionals/pseuds/regionals
Summary: Tyler is not the first guy--the first alpha--who's tried to woo Josh.Josh isn't exactly private about his status, because he doesn't see the shame in being an omega, and aside from the harassment and the backhanded compliments, his least favorite thing about it is pushy alphas trying to fucking hit on him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [marsakat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsakat/gifts).



> so uh home boy got a job and writing has slowed down considerably because of it but this is like... the one fic im working on rn and i wanna just give yall a taste of what ur in for because im excited and its getting long enough that i really need to start splitting it into chapters lol
> 
> also.......................  
> dedicated to mars 'marsakat' marsakat (thats absolutely her name, believe me) because BOY does she listen to me talk about this fic and read every snippet i send her lmao

Tyler is not the first guy--the first _alpha--_ who's tried to woo Josh.

Josh isn't exactly private about his status, because he doesn't see the shame in being an omega, and aside from the harassment and the backhanded compliments, his least favorite thing about it is pushy alphas trying to fucking hit on him.

Tyler's the florist who owns the old bar across the street, and once a week, he comes by with an arrangement of flowers, always packaged nicely in a vase, just for _Josh,_ saying, "We should go out sometime."

Josh is not at all phased by the flowers and he's seen people go to great extents just to get him wrapped around their pinky finger, and although he thinks Tyler is a little charming and maybe sort of sweet, every time he comes in with a bouquet of flowers, asking Josh to go out with him, he says, "Maybe some other time," without looking up from whatever he's doing.

*

When Josh notices that someone finally bought the old bar across the street, he bakes up a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, since those are a safe bet, packages them in a nice box with a tasteful ribbon, and he flips the open sign to say closed before walking across the street to greet his new neighbor.

He's been inside of this bar a few times--once when he was scouting out a spot for him to open his own bakery, and again a few months later when the owner of the place was holding an open house sort of deal to lure someone into buying the place. The place has been empty for a long time now, so he's a little shocked that someone _finally_ bought the damn thing.

When he steps in, the guy behind, well, _the bar_ looks up from some paper work that he was doing, and says, "Uh... it's not open yet...?"

Josh waves his hand dismissively. "I figured. I just saw that someone finally, ah, bought the place, _so,_ as a sort of housewarming, or maybe _capitalism_ warming present, I come bearing cookies. I, uh, own the bakery across the street." He jabs his thumb in the direction of his own shop. As he sets the cookies down on the bar next to where the guy is doing paperwork, he introduces himself. "I'm Josh, by the way."

"Tyler." Tyler sticks his hand out, and Josh shakes it. As Tyler opens the box of cookies, Josh quietly breathes in through his nose, and feels a little disappointed when he catches a whiff of _alpha scent._ Tyler's scent isn't as obnoxious as, say, another alpha's scent may be, but it's still _there_ and he mentally scrunches his face up, because he was hoping to have another beta neighbor, if only to avoid how fucking _obnoxious_ alphas can be. "Oatmeal chocolate chip?" Tyler quirks an eyebrow up at him.

Josh nods. "Yeah. Figured they were a safe bet, y'know? Didn't want to come in here with white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies and have you hate them."

Tyler grins a cute little grin, and Josh notices that his teeth are kind of crooked and actually _super_ fucking endearing. He knocks that thought out of his head almost as soon as he thinks it. "I love that kind too. I feel bad about not being able to offer you anything in return, _but..._ Maybe when I get myself a little more established, I'll bring by a bouquet or something, as a thank you."

*

A month passes with no word from Tyler, and Josh has almost forgot about him, up until the bell above the door in his bakery is dinging, signaling someone has walked in. As Josh is walking out of the kitchen, he sniffs the air and he recognizes Tyler's scent. It doesn't smell _bad,_ necessarily, but Josh still mentally wrinkles his nose before walking to stand behind the cash register as Tyler approaches the counter.

He sets down what Josh can only describe as a masterpiece in the form of a bouquet of flowers on the counter, and as a joke, Josh can't stop himself from saying, "We don't sell flowers here, man."

Tyler laughs, and shakes his head. "I'm not buying them. I'm gifting them, to you." He also pulls a brochure out of his back pocket, and slides it across the counter. "That's a list of flowers and their meanings, and what certain bouquets mean. As a thank you for bringing me cookies, I have brought you flowers. I _also_ have a proposition for you."

Josh glances up at him with raised eyebrows. "Go on."

"Would you like to go out tonight?"

He barely holds back a roll of his eyes, just _barely._ "I'm sure it'd be lovely, but maybe some other time, man."

Tyler doesn't seem phased, and whereas Josh is expecting him to start spouting off angry pheromones, he just smiles and responds with, "That's alright, Josh. I'll ask again later."

This is what starts the trend of Tyler coming in once a week with a different bouquet, all of them meaning something vaguely romantic, just so he can ask Josh if he's interested in going out sometime, and for Josh to politely turn him down, despite the fact that he actually _is_ sort of interested.

*

Tyler's persistent.

Josh will give him that much.

He's working on a display of cookies, to tempt customers into buying them before they go stale and he has to donate them (which he's more than okay with, but he does have to make at least _some_ money), when Tyler comes in for the seventh week in a row. (Yes, Josh has been counting.) Josh doesn't have to look up to know that it's him--he recognizes his scent immediately. It's sort of soft and sweet with musky undertones. He also wears pine scented aftershave, Josh thinks, because along with the smell of _flowers,_ he can also smell the distinct scent of artificial pine. Tyler has a unique smell that Josh refuses to admit that he likes.

"Here to ask me out again?" Josh asks in a bored tone as he places another M&M cookie in its place.

"Sort of," Tyler begins, before he's leaning against the wall, next to where Josh is standing. "I actually wanted to ask if you want to just hang out, rather than something romantic, because I've realized that although enthusiasm can sometimes be a good thing... Sometimes it's off putting and actually sort of creepy, especially if you're as obnoxious and as borderline annoying as I am."

"And you think that you, an alpha, asking someone who is very openly an omega, to hang out with you, _alone,_ is the way to go about trying to woo me? Color me unimpressed." Josh isn't afraid to be blunt with him, even if he can admit that he's being sort of rude.

"Bold of you to assume I was going to invite you to hang out with me alone. I was raised better than that. I was _thinking_ that since it's hockey season, maybe we could make a drive up to Detroit and see a hockey game, or something, as friends. I have a few friends who are going with me, but one of them dropped out last minute, so I have an extra ticket, _and_ you're not going to be stuck alone with me for hours on end."

"Hm." Josh moves on to the next basket of cookies he needs to arrange. "What are your friends' statuses?"

"One of them is a beta. He's kind of a smart ass, but I do encourage you to ignore him if he offends you. The other one is an omega, and she's very sweet. I, personally, try not to hang out with other alphas, since I tend to get into pissing contests with them a little too often." Tyler chuckles a little bit, and Josh lets himself crack a grin.

"When's the hockey game?"

"Next Friday. If you'd like to exchange phone numbers, I'd be happy to give you the details."

"How about you give me your phone number, and I'll text you once I make sure I'm free." Josh sort of just doesn't want to write his number down at the moment, and Tyler doesn't seem to mind.

*

"Do you even _like_ hockey?"

For once, Josh is baking in his own kitchen, since he's stressed, and since he bakes when he's stressed. He's adding matcha powder to some melted white chocolate, to dip white chocolate chip cookies in, and as he's stirring it, he answers. "A little bit. I'm not an expert on it, though. I'm just afraid his friends won't like me. People don't like that I'm so... _blunt_ about my status, and that I'm not some submissive little freak, at least not outside of the bedroom. I'm scared, too, because what if he's lying? What if he shows up with a bunch of alphas to kidnap me and to do unspeakable things to me?"

"I don't want to sound like I'm invalidating your fears, Josh," Ashley starts as she walks across Josh's kitchen to lean against the counter, _"but,_ logically, if he was going to do that, I doubt he'd do it to the guy who works across the street from him, and from how you talk about him... It sounds like he's been courting you, or trying to at least, for two months now. Studies show that when alphas plan to do bad shit like that, they generally don't precede it with two months of attempted courtship and flirting."

She's right and Josh knows it.

"What are you gonna do with all those cookies anyways?"

"Save some for my humble bakery, and maybe offer him and his friends some as a gift, given they don't mind matcha, of course."

When Josh looks up at her, after he's finished stirring matcha powder into the white chocolate, she's toying with her hair, which is cut short and bleached at the moment. She returns her hand to her side before speaking. "I think you should give him a chance, Josh. Not every alpha is out to get you, and there _are_ good ones out there."

Josh makes a face, and sighs. "I'll see how he does tonight."

*

Tyler's friend--the omega--makes a high pitched sort of squealing noise when she sees that Josh has _gifts_ for everyone. "Oh, _Tyler._ He's adorable." She makes eye contact with Tyler through the rear view mirror, and Josh doesn't miss this proud, smug little look that comes across Tyler's face. Jenna doesn't bother waiting to open the box Josh had handed her, and she grins wide and genuine when she sees what's inside. "Are these matcha?" She looks up at him with an excited gleam in her eyes.

"White chocolate chip cookies dipped in a mixture of white chocolate and matcha powder. I, uh... I stress bake. I was kind of worrying about tonight, and made a _ton_ of cookies." Josh doesn't know what it is about Jenna that makes him want to admit that.

"That's totally understandable. I do the same thing." She smiles so sweetly. "Tyler, remember the time I made, like, ten pounds of edible cookie dough?"

Tyler snorts and shakes his head despite the fond smile on his face, and Mark starts cackling before he cuts in. "Josh, my man, I tell you--all the three of us ate for, like, two days was that fucking cookie dough. I can't even eat chocolate chip cookies anymore, because it traumatized me so much."

Josh grins to himself. "I'm used to baking large quantities of cookies, so... I _may_ or may not have made two hundred of these. I think we're going to have to battle to the death over which one of us is worse about stress baking."

Jenna holds up one of her tiny fists, since she's using her other hand to take a bite of one of the cookies. "You're on."

*

Josh would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a _little_ smitten with Tyler by the end of the hockey game. Tyler's _sweet._ Every time he gets up to go get another beer or water or _food_ or whatever else, he's sure to ask Josh if he wants anything, and even when Josh doesn't request anything, he always comes back with _something_ and, yeah, alright, _fine--_ it's cute.

When he gets home around two in the morning, he texts Ashley to let her know that he got home safe, and that Tyler is not, in fact, out to get him, and that he's actually sort of sweet.

*

"I'm probably pushing it a bit--"

"--you are--"

"-- _but,_ why have you turned down every single one of my advances?"

Josh's fingers fly over the number pad on the cash register, since, for once, Tyler decides to buy something after bringing him a bouquet of white and light pink roses. (Josh did check for the meaning of the bouquet from the brochure Tyler had given him a few months ago, and he's pretty sure that Tyler's trying to say that Josh is a pure person and that he has a gentle sort of admiration for him.) "Do you know how many alphas hit on me?" Josh asks as he's handing Tyler his change.

Tyler drops the change into the tip jar next to the register before responding. "Is it a lot?"

"It's more than you'd think. You aren't the first alpha to come in here, strutting your stuff and putting on the charm, trying to court me, and you probably won't be the last."

"Are you even interested? At all? If you're not, I can totally back off and apologize."

Josh rolls his eyes a little bit, and sighs. "I'm not _not_ interested, but... I hardly know you, bro." He gives Tyler a sympathetic look, and lowers his voice as he continues. "I want to be romanced. I also... haven't really dated anyone, because although at twenty seven, I am dying to be in a relationship, I'm just... waiting for the right person, and asking me out every single Friday is a little overwhelming for me. I also don't want to settle for the first alpha that comes along. Of course, you're not the first alpha who's tried doing this, not by a long shot, but... You gotta back off a _little_ bit, just not all the way."

"That's why I wanna go out with you, man. I want to get to know you. I'm not saying marry me or whatever. Just, like... Maybe lunch or dinner, in a public and well lit area where you have an out, y'know?" Tyler offers him a sort of shy sort of awkward smile, and Josh reaches across the counter to place his hand over his.

"Okay, _fine._ You got me. I will allow you to take me out to dinner. I'm sure I need to step out of my comfort zone more, so... Make it nice, yeah?" Josh smiles at him, intentionally looking sweet, and Tyler looks shocked, not to mention over the fucking moon.

*

Their dinner goes well. Tyler puts on the charm and Josh indulges him, and lets himself be charmed. Tyler’s mission for the evening, it seems, is to make Josh laugh as much as he can, and Josh is easily amused when it comes down to it, so it’s not too hard of a feat.

He goes home feeling very full, both emotionally and physically. (He did eat a lot, to be fair.)

*

Josh decides to bring Tyler lunch a few days after what is essentially their first date.

Of course, his version of lunch is a blueberry muffin, but he still flips the open sign over on his own store, and marches across the street. When he enters, he's assaulted on all fronts with the scent of _flowers,_ mixed with subtle hints of Tyler's scent, but mostly just _flowers._ It's enough to make him sneeze into his elbow, and for Tyler to cackle at him from his place next to one of the displays.

"What brings you into my humble flower shop?" He asks as he's taking a yellow rose, and positioning it in the display he's next to.

Josh holds up a small plastic container, containing the muffin. "Decided to bring you food. Think of it as a thank you for all the flowers you've given me."

"That's very sweet of you. Uh. I don't take my break for another half hour, so... If you'd be so inclined as to place that behind the register, I'd really appreciate it." Tyler gestures towards the register.

Josh listens to him, and although he didn't walk in with any intentions of lingering, he finds himself stepping over to Tyler to watch him arrange flowers.

Josh isn't a florist which is probably why he finds himself surprised at how much care Tyler takes when arranging flowers, and how deliberate his placement is. "So, uh... Does this... _display_ have any special meaning?" Josh asks as he shifts back and forth on his feet, trying to resist the urge to bring his thumbnail to his mouth.

"Gratitude and forgiveness," he mumbles as he's sticking a few azaleas into the bouquet in front of him. "I get a lot of businessmen comin' in here looking for something to give to their partners after they get caught having an affair, or some other bullshit."

"You get all the assholes, I see." Josh snorts and rolls his eyes a tiny bit.

"I also do a lot of weddings and funerals," He comments as he stands back to admire his work. "What's your favorite flower, man?"

"White gardenias. Why?" Josh quirks an eyebrow at him, and he's confused until Tyler's holding up a single finger, and navigating around a handful of displays, before predictably plucking a single white gardenia from a display of other white gardenias, and within a few minutes he has a ribbon tied around the stem, and he's holding it out to Josh.

"This is _my_ thank you for the muffin."

Josh really wants to say that he scoffed and rolled his eyes at Tyler before begrudgingly taking the flower from him, but in reality he fucking _swoons_ and accepts both the flower and a little kiss on the cheek from Tyler.

*

Josh tries his hardest to not have a _crush_ on Tyler, he really does. It's the last thing he wants, really. Sure, he's been vying for actual, _genuine_ attention from an alpha, and perhaps he's been craving a relationship with an alpha that runs deeper than the fact that he's an omega and the other person is an alpha, but he still wants to bash his head against a wall when he finds himself melting the next time Tyler brings him a bouquet.

Tyler has on this cocky little grin as he asks, "How's the baking going?" before leaning on the counter a bit as Josh is looking at the bouquet of white gardenias and white roses. (He's flattered that Tyler bothered to remember his favorite flower.)

He shrugs. "It's there. I have some gingersnaps cooling on some racks in the kitchen. Gotta be festive, y'know?"

"Oh, no shit? I love gingersnaps. Maybe I'll buy some."

Josh feels like he's being embarrassing as he holds up a finger, and retreats into the kitchen to carefully place five gingersnaps into a festive cellophane bag, tying it off with a red ribbon, before backtracking, and sliding it across the counter at Tyler. "An exchange. You brought me my favorite flowers, so I'm giving you gingersnaps."

Tyler's cocky little grin turns into a goofy smile before he asks, "Can I kiss you? Is that inappropriate?"

Josh shrugs again. "A little bit, but I think I'll allow it just this once." He also mentally tells himself to shut up as soon as the words leave his mouth.

Tyler's kiss isn't forceful, which leaves Josh relieved. It's gentle and sweet, kind of how Tyler is, and Josh spends the rest of his afternoon grinning to himself.

*

"You know how I said I wasn't going to have a crush on Tyler, or let it go anywhere?"

"Let me guess," Ashley starts as she puts a cigarette out on the brick wall she's leaning on. "You have a crush on him, and you're going to let it go somewhere."

"I think so." Josh shrugs and takes a sip of his coffee, and subtly itches his back on the brick wall. "I'm going to go slow with it, but, like... He's not like the other alphas that have tried hitting on me. Usually the other ones give up after a few weeks, but... It's been months at this point, and he's not forceful about it. He just brings me flowers and asks me out and doesn't get weird when I tell him I'm gonna think about it. I like it. I kissed him, too, by the way."

Ashley grins like a madman. _"Ooh,_ young Joshua is getting feisty I see. An entire kiss on the mouth?"

Josh rolls his eyes. "Shut up, man. He brought me my favorite flowers, so I gave him cookies, and then he asked very politely if he could kiss me, _so,_ I let him do it. I wanted him to do it. He’s good at kissing, and I haven’t felt that excited over a kiss in awhile." He shrugs again, and changes the topic.

*

It’s early on a Saturday morning when Josh gets a text from Tyler, asking him if he wants to come over and help the alpha decorate his house for Christmas. (Tyler also specifies that they won’t be alone, since Jenna and Mark are both going to be there to help as well.)

Josh isn’t sure what he was expecting from Tyler’s house. It’s… big, to say the least. It’s big and it’s old and from the end of the walkway leading from the street to his front door, he can see what looks like a massive greenhouse peeking above the fence to the backyard. He knocks on the door, and as soon as it’s opening and he’s hit with a nose full of Tyler’s scent, he lets slip a sly, “I didn’t realize being a florist was so lucrative,” before he can think to stop himself.

Tyler laughs softly as he invites Josh inside, taking his coat from him and hanging it up on a coat rack. “It’s absolutely _not_ that lucrative. Uh. My grandpa died awhile back, and left me his house. Parents told me to sell it, _but,_ I took it as an opportunity to move out of my shitty studio apartment.”

Josh doesn’t verbally respond to him, but he nods, and feels his cheeks burn a little brighter as Tyler leads him towards the living room with a hand, gentle and firm, on his upper back.

The inside of Tyler’s home is exactly what Josh imagined. There’s plants _everywhere,_ and Josh can just feel a calm energy radiating throughout the home. Anywhere that can hold a plant pot has a plant pot, and as they enter the living room, Josh has to turn to Tyler and say, “Your home is beautiful, man. I’m not, ah, huge on plants usually, but, like… I like your home,” before turning away and taking the room in.

“Man, with as much time as I spend babying these plants, you better like it,” Tyler jokes. “You want something to drink? Tea, water…? Coffee? I have coffee too. And energy drinks if that’s more your thing.” Tyler’s shifting back and forth on his feet and when Josh turns around he has to bite his cheek to keep from smiling.

“Water’s fine, if you’d be so inclined, but, ah… You said your friends were going to be here…? I only smell you right now.” Josh isn’t worried. He trusts Tyler, but he feels as if it’d be awkward if it were just the two of them.

“Yes, I did. They’re on their way. Mark takes awhile to get ready. He’s a finicky dude.”

*

As Josh takes a shiny red bauble from Jenna, and as he’s finding a place on Tyler’s Christmas tree for it, he asks, “So, uh… Is Tyler someone I could… trust?”

Josh is expecting her to tease him like Ashley or any of his other friends would, but she just smiles softly and nods a little bit. “I’d say so. He’s very sweet. I know he can be a little obnoxious and pushy, in that way alphas are, but he’s pretty cool. If you’re wondering if you should give him a chance, I think you should, if only so he stops whining to me about how much he likes you.” She does crack a little smirk and lets out a small laugh and Josh rolls his eyes.

“I’m thinking about it,” he mumbles. “We went out on a date, and it was nice. I… wouldn’t mind doing that again, I guess. Alphas hit on you a lot, right?”

Jenna gives him a grave sort of look. “So much. Most scoff at the fact that my boyfriend isn’t an alpha.”

“I mean… Mark seems cool. I don’t think that’s anything to scoff at.”

“He’s sweet. I was, ah, with Tyler for awhile, and I’ve been with a few other alphas, and it’s not for me. My parents don’t like my viewpoint on dating alphas, but...”

“They can choke?”

“Yes. How do you feel about dating alphas? I mean… _Obviously_ you like the idea more than I do.” Jenna hands him another bauble, and Josh steps up a few steps on his ladder to hang it. (Tyler bought a tall tree.)

“I’m… very traditional, but also not, I guess. I love being an omega, and I accept that about myself. I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of, and I mean… more than anything, I’d like to indulge in that, I guess. I love the idea of having a mate and having kids and all of that. I don’t think it’s bad to want those things. What I think is _bad_ is expecting other omegas to want that too, y’know? I’m totally content with running my little bakery and having a few kids and a loving partner, but not everyone wants that kind of life, and I think that’s cool too.”

“I like how you view that stuff. Everyone I talk to is so extreme on it. Either omegas belong in a house popping out kids every few years, or they need to be the leaders of the free world, like… Yeah, sure, systematic oppression sucks and all, but I think it’s perfectly fine if some omegas want to do that—be a stay at home parent and pop out kids every few years for their alpha—but I also think it’s cool if an omega were to, say, go to law school and become a lawyer.”

“Are you in law school?” Josh raises his eyebrows, and reaches for another bauble.

Jenna answers him after she hands him a candy cane ornament. “I have been since I was eighteen. I’ve heard a lot of shit from a lot of different people, about how omegas don’t belong in college or whatever, which is _bull._ I mean, if anything, alphas shouldn’t get to be lawyers. By that same logic a lot of people have, alphas are too apathetic and angry to be good lawyers.”

Josh nods. “That’s very true. Uh, anyways… backtracking, I guess, before we get too off topic— _should_ I give Tyler a chance?”

“Like I said—I think you should. He’s a nice guy and from what I hear, it sounds like both of you want a lot of the same things out of a relationship. He’s a good guy and from my experience with him—he’ll treat you right.”

*

Josh is taping up a sprig of mistletoe when he catches a good _sniff_ of Tyler’s scent washing over him, all artificial pine trees and pollen and Josh is pretty sure he smells cinnamon too. He’s entirely _not_ surprised when Tyler steps in front of him, slyly asking, “What’re you up to?”

“Decorating,” comes his inconspicuous answer. Josh smooths his thumb over a piece of tape, making sure it sticks, and as soon as his arms are at his side again, Tyler gives him a suggestive look.

“How’s… decorating going?”

Josh rolls his eyes. “Do you want to kiss me, Tyler? Is that why you’re here?” Josh figures if he’s going to give him a chance, then this is a place to start.

Tyler gets stars in his eyes. “Can I?”

Josh nods and uses his hands to beckon him over. Tyler steps up to him, and gives him the most pathetic little peck on the lips.

Josh scoffs at him. “Man, c’mon. If you’re gonna kiss me, don’t be a pussy about it. _Kiss_ me. Don’t bitch out of it.” His tone is gentle and he’s trying to be subtle about how he wraps his arms around Tyler’s waist to pull him closer.

“Challenge accepted, Joshua,” is all he says before putting hands on either side of Josh’s face, and dragging him into another kiss.

Josh doesn't want to be a cornball over a simple kiss, but he's never been kissed like this before, and he's more than prepared to make out with Tyler, really, at least until Mark walks past them with a container of tinsel to bring to Jenna, saying, "Quit sucking face and decorate the house, assholes."


	2. Chapter 2

Their second date happens in a moderately unexpected way, Josh thinks. He's standing at his kitchen counter, using a rubber spatula to fold together the batter for a few loaves of banana bread, since he's had a somewhat stressful day and needs to stress bake, when his phone starts ringing. He bends down and uses his nose to answer it, and manages to Houdini his way to putting it on speaker before saying a greeting. "Good evening, Tyler."

As Tyler speaks, he lets himself imagine what the man is doing right now. _"Hey, man."_ There's shuffling noises in the background, and Josh can easily picture him watering his plants, or something like that, because that just seems like a Tyler thing to do. _"Are you going to be busy on Sunday?"_

Josh waits to answer until he's tasted the batter, and until he decides it could use another teaspoon of cinnamon. "I don't think so. I don't have any plans until Christmas, honestly. Why?"

_"I know this sounds like a stupid date idea,_ but... _Would you be interested in going to mass with me on Sunday? My church goes all out for Christmas, and I just thought it'd be nice. If you're not religious, or whatever, or if you don't feel comfortable with going to church with me, then that's totally cool. We can find something else to do, or nothing else, if you don't wanna go on a date in general."_

Josh audibly snorts, and shakes his head. "I shook my head at you. Uh, honestly... I'm not really _that_ religious, and my religious views are very personal to me, but... I think I'd be okay with that. Your church is important to you, and it's something you want me to see, right?"

_"Yes. This is probably the weirdest date I've ever asked someone on. Jesus."_

"Literally. _Jesus."_ Josh starts laughing when he hears Tyler giggling. "Seriously, though, I think it sounds fun."

_"Sweet. Um. This will be just the two of us...? I know in the past when we've gone out, there's always been, like... Well, Jenna or Mark have been there, aside from the other date, so... I dunno. I also might want to take you out to lunch or something after, and maybe hang out a bit...? Just the two of us...? Nothing creepy! Absolutely nothing creepy. Just two bros, chilling on a couch--"_

"--five feet apart because we're _not_ gay?"

Tyler cackles. _"You get the point. Can we hang out? I feel like hanging out could be... fun."_

"We can hang out, weirdo. Um. Can I call you back later, or text you, so we can hash this out further? I'm... baking."

_"Cute. Yeah, uh, that sounds cool, man. Call me whenever."_

*

Tyler's church is small. Josh was expecting something large and grandiose and he was expecting to have to shake hands all morning and to mouth along to a few hymns, but he doesn't. The chapel is meant to sit, at most, maybe ninety people, and mass that morning feels very intimate and personal.

Tyler politely holds his hand as the pastor spouts off a sermon, something about peace and love, and although Josh forces himself to sit through it, since religion isn't really his _thing,_ it's still _nice,_ and it's nice to see Tyler smiling and just looking so _pleasant._ He figures that even if he can't get anything out of the sermon, he can get something out of seeing Tyler happy.

The entire church is decorated festively--there's a Christmas tree behind the pastor, big and beautiful, and there's tinsel lining the walls. Tyler's even wearing a little mistletoe pin, pinned to the lapel of his sports coat, and everyone else just seems to be so _happy,_ and Josh can feel it rubbing off onto him.

*

"You're not some crazy bible thumper, are you?" Josh asks as he uses his fork to stab at a few pieces of lettuce when Tyler takes him out to lunch after mass.

Tyler shakes his head. "No, no. Absolutely not. My religious views are very important to me and all, but I do understand that religion isn't for everyone, y'know? Um. Why I invited you to go to mass with me this morning was because... Church is important to me, and... I figure if I'm going to... _pursue_ something with you, it couldn't hurt to, like, share that with you...? Does that make sense?"

Josh nods and swallows his bite of salad. "Totally. Uh. My parents are cool and all, but they're super religious, and I was just asking to make sure that you're not gonna try shoving that down my throat like they did, on the off chance that whatever we have going on goes somewhere."

"Nah, man. Like I said--it's not for everyone. I mean... Shit--I don't even go to church every Sunday. I don't think I've been to church since November, before this, at least. I just thought it'd be nice, y'know? Something to do." Tyler waves his fork around a little bit as he speaks. "Did you have a good time?"

Josh nods. "I mean, I certainly think taking me to church was a very... eccentric date, _but,_ yeah, I had a good time. The sermon was nice, and the people you introduced me to were nice too. Even if I couldn't get anything out of the sermon, it was nice seeing you happy about something, if you get me."

The rest of their conversation is fairly mundane, and things only get interesting when the waiter--another alpha--refills Josh's water, and slips a napkin under it with a distasteful look thrown Tyler's way. Josh waits until the waiter walks off before lifting his drink up, taking the napkin, and flipping it over. Tyler's leaning forward, trying to look at it too.

*

_Ditch that asshole. I'll treat you right._

_(xxx) xxx-xxxx_

*

Josh rolls his eyes and sighs at the napkin before gently frisbeeing it in Tyler's direction so he can read it. Tyler reads it, and scoffs, and looks in the direction of the waiter. "What a fucking _jerk._ Do you want me to say something to him?"

Josh shakes his head. "You keep your perky ass in that chair, Tyler. Do not pick a fight with him, or I'll walk out. Shit like this happens all the time--it's not worth fighting over."

Tyler makes a face, and proceeds to tear the napkin up while glaring at the stupid waiter, but doesn't pick a fight, or engage any further.

*

"I just think it's fucked up that he did that, because we were _obviously_ on a date--"

"--Tyler, man, we aren't mates. Maybe I'm being too understanding about it, but I'm very obviously not _claimed_ or mated to anyone, and neither are you. It was still kind of shitty that he tried giving me his number, and I know I should be mad, and I also get why you're mad, but like I said--shit like this happens to me all the time. I'm used to unwanted advances."

Tyler looks up from where he'd been untying his boots in the foyer of his home. "Man, I'm so sorry if I've ever made you feel uncomfortable or awkward like that."

Josh shakes his head, and crams his mittens into his coat, which is hanging on Tyler's coat rack. "You haven't. You're not weird and predatory, and although you're very persistent and can be kind of pushy, I've never outright said _no_ to you, and you've never made me feel uncomfortable or awkward. The difference is that I'm actually interested in you, and that if I told you to knock it off, you'd knock it off. You have manners. That guy obviously didn't."

"It just pisses me off that alphas act like omegas are some--are some fucking _prize--_ some little token that they deserve for being an alpha, like, _no,_ you sack of fucking potatoes, it's not _like that."_ Tyler's quick to stand on his feet again, and to dust himself off, and Josh feels his heart tug a little bit when he gets a nose full of Tyler's pheromones, which smell angry and upset. "I mean, _sure,_ I'm a simple alpha--I meet a cute omega and I'm gonna want to ask them out--but I don't _expect_ anything. I'm not trying to be some good guy alpha, either, so I'm sorry if I'm coming off that way--"

"--you're not, man. I agree with you." Josh steps up to Tyler, and holds his arms open. "Want a hug?"

Tyler looks disheartened, and he takes Josh up on his offer. Josh hugs him tight, and his hug feels so warm and welcoming.

"Y'know, I think it's cute that you're so protective," Josh mumbles into his shoulder.

"It's because I like you, man," Tyler mumbles back to him as he detaches himself from Josh. "Sorry. I shouldn't be so bothered by this."

"It's cool, dude. I'm sure you... have your reasons."

"I mean, I _do."_ Tyler heads towards his living room, and Josh follows him. Tyler continues as they get comfortable on his couch. Josh is on one end, legs folded underneath him, since he has a habit of making himself appear as small as he can, since he's kind of a bulky dude, and Tyler's sitting with a leg propped up on his coffee table, and an arm on the back of the couch. "Like I said--I like you, and I get protective as _fuck_ when I like someone, and my dad--he's... like you."

Josh quirks an eyebrow. "Like me? You mean an omega, right?"

"Yeah. I've lived my life having it drilled into my head to be _respectful_ and to protect and defend every omega I meet, including male omegas, and I've also seen people be major assholes to my dad, so, _yeah,_ I'm a little sensitive to it."

"That's definitely understandable."

Tyler makes a noise to signal that he heard him, and while he's on his phone, looking for something to play on the TV, Josh tries to be as sneaky as he can about scooting all the way over on the couch, until he's sitting right next to Tyler, leaning into him. Tyler looks at him as he lets his arm drop from the back of the couch to wrap around Josh's shoulders. "You good?"

"We're still technically on a date. May as well take advantage." Josh shrugs, and lets himself get comfortable, head on Tyler's shoulder. It's an excuse for Josh to try comforting Tyler, since he's still upset.

*

Josh finds himself swooning before Tyler takes him home that evening. Josh complained about being a little cold, and Tyler's first reaction is to peel his sweatshirt off, and to offer it to Josh.

Josh sort of wants to deny the offering, because sweatshirts are expensive, but Tyler has this fond sort of look in his eye as he's holding his sweatshirt out to Josh, so Josh just takes his coat off and makes Tyler hold it while he's putting the alpha's sweatshirt on. Once he has his coat back on, and the hood of the sweatshirt layered onto it properly, he gives Tyler a kiss on the cheek, and thanks him with a smile in his voice.

*

Agreeing to take the sweatshirt was a mistake, Josh realizes, when he's in bed that night, wearing the sweatshirt and a pair of boxers, reflecting on his day with Tyler.

In the back of his mind, he's known full well that he's _attracted_ to Tyler, but the fact becomes glaringly obvious to him when he's staring down at a shitty porn video on his phone with the alpha's sweatshirt pulled up over his nose, and his hand shoved into his boxers.

He feels a little shameful when he's pressing a toy into himself about fifteen minutes later, picturing that it's _Tyler_ above him, fucking into him, and not just a toy he got for ten bucks at a sex toy shop. He's using one of his bigger toys, and as he fucks it into himself, imagining that it's Tyler stretching him out so much, he moans and whimpers helplessly.

When he cums, it's into the palm of his hand and with the thought of Tyler's teeth sinking into his neck in his mind.

*

Josh can hardly look Tyler in the eye when the alpha comes into his bakery the next morning carrying another bouquet of white gardenias and white roses. He manages, though, and as he's pointing towards a vase that he just keeps out, now, for Tyler's flowers, he asks, "How many more times are you going to bring me flowers, man?"

"Until I either run out or our thing doesn't wind up working out." Tyler shrugs, and slides the flowers into the vase.

"Figured you'd stop once I agreed to go on a date with you," Josh mutters as he's grabbing his own offering from under the counter. (He may or may not have been preparing to bring Tyler breakfast.)

"My love language includes making flower arrangements, long conversations, and lots of physical contact. Think of the flowers like a hug, or a kiss or something, but, like... in flower form. Like, my pure, unadulterated affection has gone into this bouquet, bro."

Josh smiles a stupid little grin to himself as he's sliding a small plastic container containing a third of a loaf of zucchini bread across the counter. "Hope you like zucchini bread. I, uh... Made a few loaves last night, and this morning, so... It's fresh. I guess I express affection with baked goods."

"Perfect. I, personally, don't eat as much as I should, so I will _gladly_ accept your baked goods." Tyler does a little curtsy as he takes the zucchini bread from him, and Josh just kind of giggles quietly, since Tyler's kind of a massive dweeb sometimes.

*

They see each other one more time before Christmas. Josh has a tendency to make cookie platters for his friends and family on holidays, and Tyler isn't free from his cookie tyranny. This occasion shouldn't really be anything too noteworthy, since Josh just plans to stop by Tyler's house and drop the cookie platter off, then go on about his day, but of course, Tyler smiles so wide and genuine and when he invites Josh inside, Josh doesn't have it in himself to _not_ follow him, even if he saw Tyler a few days ago when he brought by his last bouquet.

He sort of likes seeing Tyler like this--not dressed up. It's not like Tyler dresses up in a full on suit every day, but he wears a lot of button ups and tight jeans and he always looks so _snazzy,_ so seeing him in pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt with two day old scruff is a little jarring, but it's not an unwelcome sight. He looks hot, if he's being completely honest.

He looks hot and Josh can't find it in himself to complain when he ends up sitting on the counter in Tyler's kitchen, with Tyler between his legs, kissing him. (They were standing around, kissing a little bit, and Tyler nudged Josh towards the counter with an ornery little look on his face.) Josh really didn't come over with the intention to make out with Tyler like this, he really, _really_ didn't, but he's not complaining.

More than anything, he focuses on Tyler's scent. He's pretty sure the alpha hasn't showered in a few days, since his scent is a little overwhelming. It's not bad, but it's taking everything in Josh to kiss him, and to not bury his face into his neck to scent him and leave love bites all over.

At least until Tyler's mouth moves from his mouth, down his jaw, pressing a single kiss to the corner of his jaw, before his head is dipping _down_ and he's asking, "Can I...?" against Josh's neck.

Josh can hear his heart in his ears, but he nods quickly, only saying, "Don't care as long as you don't bite me."

"Wasn't going to anyways," he mutters before getting to work on the first hickey. Josh squirms and maybe whines a little bit while Tyler leaves hickeys all over his neck. His neck is sensitive, especially the area over his scent glands, which happens to be exactly where Tyler's paying the most attention.

Tyler has his mouth at the base of Josh's neck when Josh starts to ramble a little bit, since that's just a thing he does when he's nervous. "This is, ah--this is pretty intimate, man. Isn't scenting like this supposed to--supposed to be one of those _things--_ "

Tyler pulls away with a small sigh and Josh feels his face turn about two hundred shades of red at the look on Tyler's face. His lips are a little _red_ and his eyes are dilated and Josh can smell the arousal starting to pour off of him. "You talk a lot when you're nervous. Why are you nervous?" He looks concerned, if anything, and somehow, his hands feel reassuring on Josh's thighs.

Josh hides his face as he speaks. "I've just--I've never let--I've never let anyone _scent_ me like this before, let alone give me hickeys like that, and I just feel so full of affection right now and I feel like I'm going to fuck it up and I also feel embarrassed because I'm absolutely making an ass out of myself, but you just smell so _nice_ right now--"

"Josh." Tyler cuts him off by grabbing onto his wrists, and gently pulling his hands from his face. "You're not making an ass out of yourself, and you're not going to fuck it up. You could probably kick me in the dick right now, and I'd still be walking into your bakery with a bouquet of roses on Friday." He holds both of Josh's hands close to his chest and gives him this dumb, tender little look. "I'm not--I wasn't making you uncomfortable, was I?"

Josh shakes his head. "No! No, not at all."

"Would it, uh, help your nerves at all if I let you scent me...? I was going to let you do that anyways, but in case you don't know... you're allowed, man."

"Seriously?" Josh raises his eyebrows. "Aren't alphas supposed to be all nit picky about being scented like that...?"

"I've had plenty of life experience, and I can assure you that I thoroughly enjoy a possessive omega." Tyler squeezes his hands, and kisses him high on his cheekbone. "It lets me know that I'm wanted."

"What if I do it wrong?"

"I don't think there's really a right or wrong way to go about scenting someone in a romantic way." Tyler kisses his cheek again. "I just ask that you don't bite me either, because I don't know how I'd explain to my mom tomorrow that I let an omega claim me without even introducing you to her first."

Josh steals a handful of kisses from Tyler before deciding to just go for it. He has a hand on the back of Tyler's head, and his other hand on the alpha's back, plus his legs wrapped around his hips, holding him close. He feels clumsy as he's pressing small kisses against Tyler's neck, and very obviously inhaling his scent. He tries going with it, and tries doing what Tyler was doing--licking and sucking--and he's pretty sure he's doing something right, because Tyler's grip on his thighs gets tighter, and his arousal becomes a fuck of a lot more obvious.

"Am I doing it right?" Josh asks, nice and dry, when he feels Tyler's hand sliding under his shirt, resting on his waist.

"I just know that I'm gonna have to take one _fuck_ of a cold shower after this."

*

Josh winds up taking a quick shower of his own at Tyler's house before making his next cookie platter run, which happens to be the one he made for Ashley. He's balancing it on his arm when he knocks on the door to her apartment, and winds up with a distasteful look on his face when her boyfriend answers the door. He doesn't dislike her boyfriend, per se, but he's an alpha, and Josh still tries his best not to associate with any alphas aside from Tyler. "Cookie platter. For your girlfriend."

Her boyfriend grunts, but motions Josh inside, and mumbles something about Ashley getting dressed. Josh waits in their kitchen, since he's not in the mood to have pot smoke being blown into his face, because god forbid her dumb boyfriend takes a twenty minute break from taking massive bong rips.

It takes Ashley about three minutes of gushing over the cookie platter before she notices Josh's neck, and the fact that he's wearing another sweatshirt that doesn't belong to him. "Did Tyler do that?" She asks, eyes wide, as she's moving his head around to examine his neck.

Josh nods. "Yep. I have never let anyone scent me, or leave claim marks on me, and uh... Honestly, I'd have to say that this was a good first experience."

"Did he let you scent him back?"

Josh nods with a smug little smile on his face. "It's kind of weird, not being afraid of an alpha, or at least not having that, like, worry in the back of my mind."

"I know what you mean, sweetie." She pats his cheek. "It always takes forever to find the right one, but when you do, it's _so_ worth it."

*

The hickeys aren't gone when Josh goes over to his parents house for Christmas.

His siblings have half a mind not to question him, even if Jordan keeps giving him suggestive looks every time he catches Josh's eye, since he's an asshole like that, or even if Ashley (his sister, not Frangipane) raises her eyebrows every time she looks at his neck. (Abigail is kind enough not to do more than give his neck an extended glance when he first gets there. She's his favorite right now.)

Josh is in his parents kitchen unpacking some baked goods that he'd brought over for dinner that night when he realizes that all of his major conversations need to quit happening in kitchens, because his mother corners him pretty much, asking, "What's with the marks on your neck, Josh?"

"I'm seeing someone," is his nonchalant answer as he's peeling plastic wrap from a plate of M&M cookies.

"And you're not going to introduce us...?"

"Not until I'm sure whatever I have with him is going to last. I don't want to introduce him to God and everyone, only for him to dump me or something."

He hears her make a noise in her throat, obviously displeased with his answer, but she doesn't press it.

*

Josh decides to invite Tyler over for New Year's. Tyler explained that he wasn't busy, and Josh figured they could hang out at his apartment, since Tyler's never been, and since whenever they see each other outside of work, they're almost always at Tyler's house.

Tyler comes over in the evening on the thirty first of December, and the first thing he says is, "Aw, holy shit! You're wearing my sweatshirt!" with a goofy grin on his face.

Josh is, indeed, wearing Tyler's sweatshirt. The sweatshirt fits him a little more snug in the shoulders, since he's a little bulkier than Tyler is, but Tyler still grins at him and kisses him on the nose and calls him cute. "Nah, man. I'm not--I'm not cute. I was cold and it... still sort of smells like you...? So, I mean... Warmth _and--"_ Josh cuts himself off before he can say anything embarrassing.

_"--and?"_ Tyler's taking his shoes off, but also looking up at Josh with raised eyebrows.

"I can't say it. Jesus, _fuck._ You've been here for less than a minute and I'm already embarrassing myself. _Ugh!"_ He hides his face in his hands and sighs.

"Man, you're not embarrassing. Finish what you were saying." Tyler stumbles as he stands back up straight, since he's kind of gangly and uncoordinated. "I promise I won't laugh at you."

"I was just gonna say..." Josh starts as he steps over to Tyler, and goes in for a hug, "... that if I get to be warm, and if, like... if I get to feel _safe_ because it smells like you, then, really, it's a win-win."

Tyler has both of his hands on Josh's face when he pulls away to get a look at him. "I make you feel safe?" He looks like he's trying not to smile.

Josh scrunches his face up. "I feel like it's too soon to say, because we've only been doing romantic stuff for like a few months, and I've only known you since July."

"I don't think it's too soon, man." Tyler kisses him on the forehead. "I'd rather make you feel safe than, like... unsafe, or whatever."

*

It's ten at night and they've had a meal and are presently working on playing checkers when Josh decides to start up what could potentially lead into a deep conversation. "I was, uh, talking to Jenna when we were decorating your house, and she mentioned that, once upon a time, you and her were together...? I know it's none of my business, but can I ask why you guys didn't, uh... work out?"

"We didn't want the same things out of our relationship," Tyler answers simply. "Mind you, we were in our early twenties when we were together, but, ah... I wanted to _settle down_ and have kids and all that mushy shit, and I wanted to take care of her and give her everything she wanted. She was, and still is, in college, though, and wanted a career rather than children, which is totally okay, and at some point we had to ask ourselves why we were together. Like, I want some nuclear picket fence family and life, and she doesn't, which, again, is fine. We broke up, stayed friends even if it was weird for awhile, then she met Mark and they've been together for... awhile, now. Have you ever been with any other alphas? I feel like that can be my... equivalent of a nosy question."

Josh shakes his head. "No. I've been with a few betas and a few other omegas, but never any alphas. Um. Even then, though... It was never anything too serious, maybe just a few dates here and there, and making out occasionally. I, ah... I've been sort of scared to try dating an alpha...? At least until now, I guess. I've just been afraid that I'm going to wind up with a jerk who's going to mistreat me, and I've never had a good gut feeling about any alphas who've tried hitting on me, save for you, so... Y'know." Josh shrugs, and moves a checker piece to claim two of Tyler's.

Tyler scoffs softly at Josh taking two of his checker pieces, before responding. "Am I doing good so far, being your first experience with an alpha?"

Josh nods, the tips of his ears turning red, and that redness slowly spreads to the rest of his face. "I think so. It's kind of scary...? Does that sound stupid?"

Tyler shakes his head.

"Okay. Well, it's scary. You're not scary, but the whole idea of... I dunno... Relationship stuff, I guess, and all those ideas that society has about how a relationship between an alpha and an omega should be... It's intimidating. I have a feeling you're, y'know... Not _like that,_ but sometimes I worry about winding up in some weird, unhealthy relationship where you, an alpha, is going to expect me to be some subservient little housewife and to pop out kids every few years while I'm, _y'know._ Still... fertile. And I'm doing that thing where I talk a lot because I'm nervous."

"Can I be honest with you, man?"

Josh nods.

"I'm _not_ like that. I think you're very sweet and charming and kind, and the last thing I want to do is to hurt you, or to stifle any part of you. I know a lot of alphas are raised to act very, ah... self righteously, or whatever, but I like to think I'm not like that. Of course, talk is cheap and all, but... still. I'm less concerned about myself, and more concerned about _you,_ is a good way to put it. Also, I mean, I wouldn't _mind_ having a few kids, but two's my limit, and, man, I love your bakery. You're not allowed to give your bakery up."

Josh huffs and wipes his hand under his nose as some sort of nervous tic. "I was talking to one of my friends, and she, uh... She approves of you. She's my best friend, so, ah, I hold her words pretty highly. I told her about how we--how we scented each other, or whatever, and apparently it's good that you let me scent you back, or so she says."

"Like I said, man--I like a possessive omega." Tyler's smirking a little bit, and claims one of Josh's checker pieces for himself. "If we're ever making out and you want to scent me and give me hickeys, go for it.I live for that shit."

"So many alphas _don't_ like that."

"Well, I do. I love all that intimate stuff, man. Intimacy is scary at first but it's so great, y'know? I think the issue with a lot of alphas is that they're afraid of intimacy, and all they want is to just... I dunno. Think with their knots, not their hearts. It's dumb."

Josh nods. "Yeah. I've... noticed, I guess. Jeez--there was this one time I was in a fucking club with Ashley, conveniently the night she met her mate, and this alpha comes up to me... I swear to god. I ended up slapping him for it, but he was being all gross and weird and basically begging me to let him claim me and _fuck_ me, which was borderline traumatizing."

"If any other alphas do that to you, tell me, and I will kick some ass." Tyler gives him a hard look.

Josh rolls his eyes. "Don't. Violence isn't my thing. _Anyways._ It was kind of scary. I'm a romantic person, and every time I've had an alpha come up to me, only wanting to fuck me rather than to put in the work, it's just made me _sad._ It's disheartening, and after awhile it can chip away at your self esteem. Like, am I only worth a quick fuck? Do I _not_ get to have that nice romantic relationship of my dreams? Don't I deserve better than that?"

"You absolutely deserve better than that," Tyler says with a slight frown as he reaches over for Josh's hand, so he can bring his hand to his mouth, and kiss his knuckles.

"I feel stupid for wanting so much out of a relationship, too!" Josh throws his other hand up in the air. "I'm a traditional guy--I _love_ being an omega, and I _love_ that side of myself. I absolutely want to have an alpha and a few kids and one of those stereotypical omega lives, yet I expect so _much--"_

"Just because you want that sort of life doesn't mean you don't deserve to be loved, dude." Tyler's frown grows deeper, and he removes his hand from Josh's grasp so he can caress his face, and use his thumb to wipe a tear from under his eye. Josh leans into his touch. "My dad is like you, and he has that kind of relationship--that _life--_ that you want--he has that with my mom, and let me tell you--there's so much love in their relationship. So, not only is it possible, _but,_ I'm confident you'll get to have that."

Josh sniffs a bit, and tilts his head away from Tyler's hand. "Thanks, man. I hear horror stories of omegas being _forced_ into that sort of relationship, and I'm terrified I'm gonna end up having that happen to me."

Tyler grunts, and pushes their checkers game aside. " _Fuck_ checkers." He scoots back, and crawls on the floor around Josh's coffee table until he can sit next to him, with his arms open. "You find my scent comforting, right? Let me comfort you."

Josh nods, but makes no move to hug Tyler. He does sigh, though, and tilt his head back against his couch, which is what he's been sitting against. "I'm literally upset, and I'm sure you can smell it, and all I want right now is a hug, but I'm nervous and anxious."

"That's why I want to comfort you. If you don't want me to hug you, that's totally cool, but, like... Hugging is pretty awesome, and I would _love_ to hug you and comfort you."

"What do you even get out of being so nice?" Josh asks as he leans forward.

"Emotional fulfillment, and the knowledge that you're taken care of, which I, myself, find comforting, believe it or not. Anyways, c'mon. You got nothing to be nervous about." Tyler uses his hands to beckon Josh over to him, and after a few moments of seemingly debating with himself internally, Josh scoots over to him, and sits in his lap, figuring he may as well just go for it.

Tyler wraps his arms around Josh, holding him tight, and Josh sticks his face into Tyler's neck. Tyler does move a hand up to run his fingers through the curls on the back of Josh's head, and Josh sighs, tension flooding out of his shoulders.

It's a quiet moment, and it's nothing _major,_ Josh doesn't think, but it's still significant. When he's climbing out of Tyler's lap ten minutes later, and tugging him onto the couch so they can watch the New Years program on TV while leaning on each other and maybe cuddling a bit, he feels a lot closer to him than he did before, and it's not an unwelcome feeling.

*

Tyler winds up spending the night, and after Josh arguing with him and telling him it's fine for a good ten minutes or so, Tyler finally agrees to share Josh's bed with him. Tyler winds up standing in the doorway of Josh's bedroom, looking around his room, but not venturing into it.

"Dude. We're both exhausted. Just get in here." Josh gives him a slightly desperate look before he goes back to moving pillows around on his bed.

"Isn't this too... intimate? Aren't omegas' bedrooms supposed to be, like... very _private?"_

"Yes, and I'm inviting you in here to sleep with me because I trust you, and because I kind of want to sleep _on_ you, because I have a feeling I'm going to sleep really well tonight if I get to do that. So. Come the fuck on. Get in here. And close the door behind you."

Tyler does listen to him, and closes the door behind himself, but he still winds up just standing in front of it, staring at Josh's bed. Josh's bed just screams _nest_. Josh has the kind of mattress that _dips_ in the center, and he has tons of blankets and pillows on his bed as well, and all in all, Tyler feels as if he's intruding.

"What's your deal?" Josh isn't trying to be mean, and his tone is gentle, but he still gives Tyler an exasperated look.

_"That's_ a nest," he states, dumbly.

Josh deadpans. "Yes, I'm an omega. I _nest_. What's the big deal?"

"Aren't nests supposed to be a safe space?"

"I _guess._ I don't know. I do it out of instinct, and for comfort."

"I'm some strange alpha, and _that's_ your nest."

"For _fucks_ sake." Josh rolls his eyes, and stomps one of his feet on the ground. (Gently. He has neighbors to worry about.) "We've been officially dating each other for a month and a half, and you've been courting me since we met, pretty much. You're not a stranger. I trust you. I want to sleep next to you. You make me feel safe. If I didn't want you in here, I would've brought you a few pillows and a blanket and made you sleep on my couch."

Tyler gives in, and approaches the bed, and once he's actually _in_ the bed, with Josh basically wrapped around him, clinging to him, seeming so _content,_ he wonders what the hell his nerves were over anyways.


	3. Chapter 3

On the second, Tyler walks into Josh's bakery with a dozen red roses while he (Tyler) is taking his lunch break. The second is a slow day for either of them, so once the roses are in a vase, Tyler seats himself on the couch in the break room of the bakery. Josh also decides to take his lunch break around the time Tyler comes in, and sits with him, to talk, even if they saw each other the day before.

Josh is eating his own lunch--a sandwich--and Tyler's picking at a cinnamon roll he'd been offered when he asks, "Did we ever fill each other in on how Christmas went?"

Josh thinks for a moment, before shaking his head. "Don't think so. I talked to Ashley about it, but not you. Why?"

"Is your mom _pushy?"_

Josh snorts, and shrugs. "I mean, she can be. Did something happen?"

"My mom kept badgering me about who gave me all the hickeys. It was embarrassing. Not that I don't love talking about you, but I was hoping to avoid her and my dad pestering me." Tyler groans a little bit, acting flustered, and Josh can't help but to let out a little laugh.

"What did you tell her?"

"Just said that I'm seeing someone."

"That's what I told my mom when she started bugging me about it. I've never--I've never been in a relationship of any sort before, so I think, like, _introducing_ you, and you introducing me is probably one of my biggest fears at the moment."

Tyler shakes his head, and swallows his bite of cinnamon roll before answering. "Dude, you're not alone. I mean, I've had a handful of partners that I've introduced to my parents, but it's still scary as fuck introducing anyone for the first time."

*

"How would I, dare I say, be able to tell if things were going to work out with a hypothetical alpha that I've been hypothetically seeing for exactly two months now? What signs should I look for?" Josh is lingering around his parents' home, since Tyler's out of town, and since Ashley is busy. His mom is folding laundry, and Josh is helping her do it, since he's not an asshole.

Josh is in the middle of folding a t-shirt when his mother answers him. "I think you'll know," is her simple answer. "You should tell me about him. Or, hypothetically, at least."

Josh rolls his eyes, and sets the t-shirt down in a laundry basket. "He's... nice, I guess."

"You guess?" His mother raises an eyebrow at him.

"He's _nice._ It's not an 'I guess.' He's super nice, and I kind of think he's, like... The real deal, or at least has the potential to be. We're on the same page about pretty much everything, and he's not weird and predatory like a lot of alphas are, which is... refreshing. We also both want a lot of the same things out of a relationship, so...?" Josh shrugs. "We also get along great. Even if things with him weren't romantic, we could easily be best friends. Also, he brings me flowers every single week. He's--he's a florist, by the way. He owns the old bar across the street from where I work. It's how we met."

"I'd love to meet him sometime."

Josh nods. "That's a good idea, but, also, I don't trust you and Dad to not scare him off. Namely Dad. What if they butt heads?"

"I can handle your father," she assures him. "I'm serious, Josh. I want to meet him." And now she has a stern look on her face, and Josh just grumbles quietly before continuing to fold clothes, and not answering her verbally.

*

Tyler's using a pair of tweezers to feed mealworms to his Venus flytraps when his doorbell rings. He sighs quietly, and stands there for a few moments, before letting out a groan and marching from his kitchen to his front door. He opens the door, prepared to tell whoever it is to fuck off, since he's sort of super focused on feeding his plants, up until making eye contact with _Josh._

As soon as he sees that it's Josh, standing there in all of his soft and sweet glory, not even wearing his contacts for once, any frustration in his mind melts away, and he just smiles. "What brings you here on this fine evening?"

Josh smiles back at him, nice and sweet just as he always does. "Are you busy?" He shifts back and forth on his feet, hands wringing together in his sweatshirt pocket.

"A little bit, but I can make time. I'm just feeding my flytraps right now. Why?" Tyler steps back to invite Josh inside, and politely asks him to shut the door as he's heading back towards his kitchen.

Once the door is closed, Josh speedwalks to catch up with him, and Tyler can _smell_ that he's anxious.

"Did something happen? Your scent is all..." Tyler waves his tweezers around once he picks them back up.

"Um, not really. I'm just nervous. I went over to my parents' house when you were out of town last week, and since Ashley was busy, and kinda-sorta told my mom about you...?" Josh's voice raises a few octaves at the end of that and Tyler's eyebrows go up on his forehead as he's using a toothpick to coax one of the flytraps into completely sealing itself shut around a mealworm. "Nothing bad, of course."

"I'd hope not."

"Anyways... Uh. My mom kind of pressured me into inviting you over for a family dinner. So. That's what I'm here to do. I totally get it if you don't want to, man, but I was thinking... Maybe this could be, like... another stepping stone between us...?"

Tyler nods thoughtfully, and drops another mealworm into the last flytrap, and as he's doing the toothpick thing again, he replies. "Dinner sounds fun. May I ask what your parents' statuses are, so I know what to expect...? And also _when,_ so I can make plans."

"Mom's a beta, and Dad's an alpha. Mom said that she'd take care of my dad if he tried butting heads with you, and he usually listens to her, so... I dunno, man. Also, the next family dinner is next Friday."

"I should be free that evening," Tyler says with a grunt as he stretches to place the flytraps on the window sill above his kitchen sink.

Josh sighs out of relief, and deflates a little bit. He has a hand on Tyler's counter, seemingly to balance himself, and Tyler takes the opportunity to step up to him, and to trail his hand down Josh's arm, until he has a hold of his hand. "Do you need a hug?"

Josh nods, and it takes him less than a few seconds to glue himself to Tyler, holding onto him, and pressing his face against his shoulder. Tyler hugs him back, nice and tight like he means it, and keeps Josh there until he pulls away from him, saying, "Thanks, man. I needed that. I've been stressing myself out over it." Josh sniffs a bit, and takes his glasses off so he can wipe the lenses of them with his sweatshirt sleeve.

Tyler wishes he had more self control as he reaches towards Josh, and places his hand on his cheek. Josh glances up at him for a moment, but leans into the touch, mumbling, "What's this for?"

Tyler shrugs, and rubs his thumb in a half circle under Josh's eye. "I just wanted to touch you."

"We just got done hugging, man," Josh points out as he nudges Tyler's hand away so he can put his glasses back on.

"I know, I know." Tyler rolls his eyes a little bit, and finally gets around to closing the lid on his container of mealworms, and places them on the windowsill next to the flytraps, before letting Josh follow him into his living room.

"I mean, I'm not mad about you touching my face, bro. I didn't mind it. I kinda liked it." Josh waits until after Tyler's bent down and stood up again while grabbing his TV remote (under the presumption that they're going to hang out) before stepping up behind him and wrapping his arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. "I like it when you show me affection."

Tyler huffs, and smiles softly. "I like it when you show me affection too, y'know."

"Yeah?" Josh smirks, and kisses the side of Tyler's neck. "Do I ever make you nervous? Get you all flustered?"

"Frequently," Tyler answers, tilting his head to the side a little bit, subconsciously trying to get Josh to kiss his neck again. "I don't always show it, but you make me nervous and you get me flustered very frequently."

Josh nods, and takes the bait, kissing Tyler's neck again. "Good. Glad to know I'm not the only one dealing with that."

*

_"So, what exactly is the dress code for dinner?"_

Josh has his phone wedged between his ear and his shoulder as he flips through his closet, trying to find an outfit for himself. "I mean, probably don't show up in your underwear, but... The rules are pretty lax. I'm probably just going to wear jeans and a sweatshirt."

_"I want to impress your parents, though. Can't impress them if I'm dressed like a fifteen year old."_

"If you're worried, just wear a button up and nice jeans, or something. Maybe a sports coat if you're feeling formal. It's not supposed to be a formal event, though. We're probably going to go over there bullshit with each other for an hour or so, eat, then play a board game or watch a movie or something, then we can do whatever we're gonna do for the rest of the night. I dunno."

_"And what are we doing with the rest of the night?"_ Josh can imagine that Tyler's eyebrows are raised, and that he has a suggestive look on his face, or at least a mildly perplexed one.

"I don't know, man. You're the alpha. You decide."

_"How about disgustingly raunchy sex?"_ His tone is dripping with sarcasm, and Josh starts laughing hard enough that he chokes on his spit.

"Um, _no."_ He allows himself a few more seconds to laugh before continuing. "We can talk about that in person if you want, but it's a hard _no_ from me."

_"I was joking, man. If we're gonna partake in adult activities, I'm going to make it special, and it won't be after a night of hanging out with your family, because that's just weird. Um. Honestly, I don't know. Wanna just hang out? Maybe have a sleepover? It was fun when I slept over at your apartment on New Years."_

"I think a sleepover could be arranged," Josh mumbles, his small smile evident in his tone. "Where do you want the sleepover to be at?"

_"I was thinking maybe my house...? I have to feed my flytraps tomorrow, and water my plants. I think that'd be easier to do if I was, like... already there, and didn't have to drive across the city. It'd also give me an excuse to make breakfast for you, and to spend more time with you."_

"Can you even cook?" Josh is currently holding up one of his sweatshirts, a black one with a rose embroidered in the top left of it, sitting over his heart were he to wear it. The rose reminds him of Tyler, so he sets it on his bed, and goes back to his closet to look through his pants.

_"... Not really. I can make eggs and bacon and maybe pancakes if I try hard enough. It's a hit or miss with pancakes, though."_

"How about you can make eggs and bacon, and I can do pancakes. I'm good at making pancakes. I'm also willing to just make breakfast in general, man. I'm, ah... I cook for a living, basically."

_"What will I have to contribute?"_

"You, uh..." Josh trails off, trying to think. "Maybe you can water your plants while I cook. I dunno."

_"Maybe so. Anyways, um... I need to get dressed. Need to look nice for your family, and for you. I'll see you when I pick you up, yeah?"_

*

"What, uh... What are the roses for?" Josh asks as he peers into the back seat of Tyler's car. He knows they're not for him--if they were for him, Tyler would've given them to him at his door.

"Oh! Uh. Your mom. I'm trying to impress your family."

"Huh. Fair enough, man." Josh shrugs, and while Tyler's driving, they hold hands.

*

Josh's mom loves the flowers, and when she gets a chance to say it without Tyler hearing, she leans over to say, "He's cute. Hold onto him."

Josh is a little on edge when Tyler introduces himself to Josh's father, and he can tell that his dad isn't too pleased with having another alpha in his household, let alone one that's dating his omega firstborn, but no one fights and Tyler's charming enough to win him over.

His siblings seem to like Tyler as well, and Josh already knows full-well that Tyler's a good guy, but he still finds himself impressed with how much everyone seems to like him, including himself.

*

Dinner itself is slightly awkward in the way that dinner is when someone is introducing a partner to their parents for the first time. Josh is shoving a bite of chicken alfredo into his mouth when his father makes eye contact with Tyler, keeping his face vaguely pleasant, asking, "How did the two of you meet?"

Josh is quick to chew and swallow and to start answering, but his father cuts him off by holding his hand up slightly, and saying he wants to hear it from Tyler.

Josh looks down at his plate and while Tyler speaks, and cuts his pasta up with his fork to give his hands something to do. He's anxious and he's sure that it's obvious.

"Um. I own the old bar across the street from his bakery to sell my flowers, and he brought me cookies a few weeks after I bought it, as a capitalism warming present, as he called it. I then brought him flowers in a slightly misguided attempt at courtship, one that wound up working out, a few weeks after the cookies, and... yes. Here we are." Tyler lifts his fork, which is stabbed into a piece of chicken, up as if to propose a toast, and takes a bite as an excuse not to talk.

Josh gains a little confidence at how smoothly Tyler answered that, and decides to slyly ask, "How long did you spend bringing me flowers before I decided to give you a chance?"

Tyler snorts, and after swallowing, he answers. "Three months. I don't know if you're stubborn, or if I'm just annoying."

Josh's mother cuts in after that. "Sweetie, if it makes you feel any better, his father had to buy me coffee every morning for six months before I let him take me on a date."

"Must be hereditary, then," Tyler says before he can stop himself.

Josh gets him in the arm with his elbow, even if he's smiling.

*

Josh can feel the eyes of his family on him as everyone settles into the living room to watch a few episodes of a TV show that all of them (save for Tyler) have seen numerous times after dinner. He and Tyler are on the floor in front of the couch, in front of Ashley, who sits with her legs partially tucked under her. Tyler leans back against the couch, and Josh sits between his legs, sort of slouched, with his head on Tyler's chest. Tyler plays with Josh's hair while his eyes are transfixed on the TV, and there's a few times Josh catches someone's eye. Everyone always looks away as soon as Josh makes eye contact, whether it be his siblings or his parents, and he's just a _little_ embarrassed by it.

Not embarrassed enough to move, though, because Tyler smells and feels nice, and he likes how the alpha's fingers feel in his hair--how it makes him feel relaxed and not nearly as anxious. Josh winds up dozing off eventually, and gets woken up from Tyler kissing the top of his head, and lowly saying, "Hey, bud. You gotta wake up. Show's over."

*

"I don't know what it is about you," Josh starts as he's balancing himself on the wall next to Tyler's door so he can take his shoes off, "but usually being in the home of an alpha that I'm not related to makes me want to hurl, just because of the scent."

Tyler cracks a grin, and he looks a little cocky if Josh had to say so himself. "I'm glad I smell so great."

Josh sticks his tongue out at him. "It's probably just because we like each other or something, man. Oh, _god._ Whenever I'm around Ashley's fucking mate, it makes me feel like crawling out of my skin."

"Your sister, or...?"

"Best friend."

"Ah. Is her mate an asshole, or...?"

"Not _really."_ Josh shrugs, and trails behind Tyler on the way to the alpha's living room. They sit on the couch together, and Josh props his feet up on the coffee table before continuing. "He doesn't like me. When I met him, I had this weird pseudo-romantic thing going on with Ashley, and he could tell, I guess. I mean, we didn't do anything--just kissed sometimes--but he didn't like it, which is understandable. I'm sure you wouldn't like it if some strange omega was hanging around me acting all lovey."

Tyler shakes his head. "I wouldn't be overly pleased," he mutters. "I know this is an inappropriate question, but, uh... How much experience do you have with... y'know... Sexual situations?" Tyler's chewing on his cheek and giving Josh a curious look. "You seemed a little spooked at my joke that I made on the phone, and I didn't--I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Sometimes I talk without thinking, and make an ass out of myself."

Josh shakes his head. "It's cool, man. I just wasn't expecting it. It was hilarious, actually." He loops his arm around Tyler's, and tilts his head onto his shoulder before continuing. "I am a massive virgin, to put it simply. I don't--I don't consider myself one of those sex after marriage types, but, ah... I just... Haven't met anyone that I've been willing to share that side of myself with, I suppose...? You know I'm a romantic. I haven't wanted to risk accidentally doing it with the wrong person, and having the experience be awful. Can I ask about you...?"

"I'm not _that_ experienced, but I'm definitely not a virgin. Um. Jenna's--Jenna's the only one I've ever had a serious relationship with, and part of that relationship included sex, but we never, like... Did anything... Fuck, uh... How do I put this?" Tyler reaches up and scratches the side of his face a little bit as he thinks. "Everything we did was _outside_ of heats or ruts. So. In the whole heat and rut aspect of stuff, I'm not experienced, but outside of that, I'd like to think that I am...? We held off on doing that stuff, and kept putting it off or finding excuses not to whenever it came up, probably because we weren't... Y'know. Meant for each other, or whatever."

Josh nods, slowly. "That's... understandable. I did say earlier that if you, uh, want to talk about that stuff... We can."

"That's what I'm tryin' to do." Tyler reaches over to gently mess up Josh's hair, and Josh looks up at him with his face scrunched up. Tyler kisses him. Josh's heart feels full.

"I don't know how talks about this stuff are supposed to go. Uh. I'm so inexperienced, man. I mean, I've watched porn and I know what my body likes, but I don't know how that stuff works with another person. I mean, physically I do, but emotionally... I dunno. It all seems so intimidating to me. And--and you're an alpha. I trust you, I do, but... The anxiety and the fear is still there in the back of my head."

"I'm not really in a hurry to do that stuff with you. Sex, I mean. Not that there would be anything wrong with it, and not that I _don't_ want to, but take it from me--it's best to just go at your own pace. If you aren't comfortable and if it doesn't feel right... Then it ain't the right time."

"I mean... It's not like I haven't thought about what it'd be like, doing _stuff_ with you. I also want to-- _y'know_ \--but similar to everything else when it comes to you... I am a very nervous little dude."

"Another thing, man... We don't have to go _all the way_ the first time we do anything. When I was--when I was... Y'know, working up to losing my virginity with my past partner, it was preceded by months of stuff that wasn't full blown sex. We started small, then worked up to it. I also, uh... View that stuff from an emotional standpoint, if that makes sense."

"Explain it, maybe...?"

"I mean that everyone I've had sex with, I've had a relationship with, with a few exceptions, of course. Doing it to get off is fun, but I like the intimacy part of it better. It's just... feeling so _close_ to someone is so... great, y'know? If we--if we get to a point to where we have sex together, I personally would like it to be... emotional, or whatever. I suck at words. Okay, a better way to put it is that I'm the kind of guy who's going to want to make love to you all night long rather than fuck you and be done with it in ten minutes, y'know?"

Josh lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and nods slowly. "I get that. Um. I think... I feel the same way about that. Not that I wouldn't just love to get my brains fucked out on occasion, but at least for the first few times I kind of... Wouldn't mind romance, and foreplay, and all that. Another thing is that I'm afraid of doing that stuff, and coming away from it feeling worse about myself."

"If we ever do that, I promise I'm going to do my best to make it special, and that I'm going to also try my best to make _you_ feel good, and to make you feel better about yourself and your relationship with me. The last thing I ever want to do is betray your trust, especially when it comes to stuff like this." By now, Tyler's fingers are intertwined with Josh's, and he's squeezing his hand firmly. "I also don't believe that sex is a completely necessary part of being in a relationship with someone, _but..._ It can be nice if it's with the right person. It's also a good bonding experience, honestly."

"Yeah." Josh's voice is quiet, and he thinks if he tried to scoot himself any further into Tyler, he'd merge bodies with him. "So, um... Backtracking a little bit. What constitutes as 'starting small?'"

"I mean... I dunno." Tyler shrugs. "Depends on the person."

"Would you... Recommend, ah... _starting small,_ as a way to work myself up to doing that sort of stuff...? Maybe... Build some trust between us?" Josh tilts his head up, and tries his best to give Tyler an innocent look. He can feel his heart thudding its way out of his chest, and his fingers feel a little electric from his nerves, but he figures it's worth a shot. "If I'm being totally honest with you... I've sort of been, uh... Thinking about that stuff. A lot. Like, an embarrassing amount. I've kind of wanted to bring it up before, but haven't found the right time, aside from now."

"Yeah. I'd definitely recommend starting small. It makes the experience less intimidating in my opinion and experience. Also, I'm totally with you on that. I won't lie to you either--I've also thought about it way more than what's probably considered appropriate." Tyler looks down at him, eyebrows slightly raised.

"Yeah?" Josh tries giving him a suggestive look, but he has no idea how he's actually coming off. "What exactly have you thought about?"

Tyler shrugs. "I mean, sex...?"

Josh rolls his eyes and gently gets Tyler in the side with his elbow. "Dude. Come on. Indulge me. I kinda... Wanna mess around a little."

_"Oh!"_ Realization dawns on Tyler, and Josh can see the exact moment it does. "Oh, fuck. Alright." Tyler laughs a little bit before composing himself, and dipping his head down to kiss Josh on the mouth. "Are you sure?"

Josh nods slowly and carefully, resisting the urge to wring his hands together. "If I say stop, you'll stop, right?"

"Absolutely, bro. We don't--we don't have to do anything you aren't comfortable with. Anyways..." Josh can see a shift in Tyler's demeanor, and he can smell a slight shift in his scent too. He adjusts his position a little bit to be facing more towards Josh. "You want to know what I've thought about...?"

Josh nods again and bites the inside of his bottom lip, before mumbling, "I do. I think it's kind of... Surprising, that you think of me like that."

Tyler moves his arm from Josh's grasp, and wraps it around his shoulders. "Why? You're _very_ attractive."

"How so?"

"How far am I allowed to go?"

"I mean... Don't say anything overly derogatory or disrespectful, I guess, but... C'mon. Compliment me. I like that shit, especially from you." Josh gives him a tender little kiss. "Makes me all giddy when you praise me."

"Good; that's what I aim to do." Tyler smirks, and winds up gently manhandling Josh into his lap. Josh slouches, making himself look smaller, trying to subtly signal to Tyler that he's trying to be submissive. Tyler seems to get the point, since he reaches up to caress Josh's cheek, and to lead him into a kiss before saying, "That's one thing I find attractive about you--you're just _cute,_ and _shy._ You have this little smile--the one you're doing right now--and it's so cute."

Josh hides his face in his hands, but Tyler nudges his hands away.

"Don't hide your cute face, Josh. See! That's another thing! Your face is just so... Beautiful. Like, holy shit, man."

Josh scrunches his face up and shakes his head a little bit.

Tyler scoffs softly. "Don't shake your head at me. That's part of your charm--you don't, like, _realize_ how gorgeous you are. Your eyes, your nose, your lips..." Tyler reaches up to brush his thumb across Josh's lip as he caresses his jaw. He even teases Josh a little bit, by pressing his thumb down, and has to bite the inside of his cheek since Josh's first reflex is to wrap his lips around Tyler's thumb. "I think about your lips a lot."

Josh has his hand on the side of Tyler's neck, and he rubs his thumb across the alpha's scent gland while he waits for him to continue.

"The thought of them on my neck, or even on my mouth is enough."

"Enough for what?"

It's Tyler's turn to be flustered. He makes a face and breaks eye contact with Josh.

"Just tell me." Josh leans forward and kisses his cheek. "I'm a big boy. I can handle it."

"I don't want to weird you out."

"I'm in your lap, literally asking you to tell me what you find attractive about me. Do my lips get you _off?_ Is that it?" Josh is teasing him, for the most part, and he's trying not to start laughing. He feels so full of affection for Tyler.

"I mean, _yeah._ That's not too weird?"

Josh rolls his eyes. "No. I think it's kind of hot, actually. Tell me more." When Josh leans forward this time, he ghosts his lips over one of Tyler's scent glands, and grins to himself at the way Tyler sighs.

"I get hard whenever you scent me," Tyler admits.

_That_ makes Josh grin like a madman. He grazes his teeth over Tyler's scent gland before leaving a sucking sort of kiss on it. "Not gonna lie... Sometimes I wear your sweatshirts when I get off." When Josh feels the hand Tyler has on his thigh tighten its grip, he asks, "Was that too much?" without moving his face from Tyler's neck.

Tyler shakes his head, and moves his hand from Josh's thigh to the back of his head to affectionately run his fingers through the omega's hair. "Sweetie, no. I think it's adorable. You should give me one of your sweatshirts so I can try that. Jesus."

"It's pretty great," is what Josh answers him with as he starts sucking a hickey into Tyler's neck.

Tyler gasps a little bit. "I don't--I don't know _why_ I have such a thing for you scenting me."

"You did say you like possessive omegas," Josh comments before switching sides, and placing an open mouthed kiss over Tyler's other scent gland. He nips at the sensitive skin, not hard enough to break skin, but enough to make Tyler moan quietly before he gives him another hickey.

"Something about belonging to someone turns me on, I think. Every time--every time you leave marks on my neck... It takes everything in me not to go up to everyone I meet, and be like, _'Hey, you see this? I'm taken.'"_ Tyler's left hand slips under Josh's sweatshirt, resting on his waist. "One of my bigger fantasies is you... I don't know if it's too far."

"Like I told you the other times," Josh starts before nipping at Tyler's neck again; "just tell me."

"It's just that... Sometimes I think about you claiming me when I get off."

Josh nods, and rests his forehead on Tyler's shoulder as he reaches down to adjust himself in his jeans. "I've thought about it too. About you claiming me while I've gotten off." He bites his lip, and when Tyler asks him to elaborate, to _tell him more,_ he feels slick starting to leak from his hole. "There was one time," He starts as he unbuttons the first few buttons on Tyler's shirt so he can nip at his collarbones before continuing, "that I used the biggest toy I had, and imagined that it was--that it was you. When I got off that night, it was because I thought about what it'd feel like if you were to bite me. It made me so..." Josh smacks his lips a few times and gestures with his hand, signaling that he's trying to think.

"So what?" Tyler urges him on.

"It's embarrassing."

"It's probably not, Josh."

"Just thinking about it is making me--making me _wet."_ Josh rolls his hips once, and the hand on his waist moves down to cop a feel of his ass. Josh whines softly, nice and high pitched, at the feeling of Tyler touching his ass. "No one's ever made me--made me feel like this before."

Tyler moves his hand from Josh's ass back to his waist, and asks, "Do you want me to get you off...?"

"Oh, _god."_ Josh takes a deep breath, and exhales quickly, nipping at Tyler's collarbone again. "I do, I really do, but..."

Tyler doesn't say anything this time. He waits for Josh to continue on his own.

"What if it goes too far? What if we--what if we get carried away, and shit goes wrong?"

"I wouldn't let that happen. Any time you want to stop, we can stop; including now."

Josh shakes his head. "I don't want to stop. I just... Don't want to do too much. Also, can I--can I take my sweatshirt off? I'm... sweating."

"Of course, man."

Josh sits up straight long enough to peel his sweatshirt off, revealing the fact that he's not wearing anything underneath it, before going back to basically hiding with his face in Tyler's shoulder. "I'm nervous."

Tyler rubs his back, keeping his touch gentle. "That's okay. Would you be okay if I went down on you...?"

"What does that entail?"

Tyler's blunt with him, and Josh appreciates it. "My mouth and your dick. Nothing else. Like... you don't even have to take your pants off, man."

Josh nods slowly against his shoulder, seeming to consider it. "I'm not, uh... I'm not _huge_ down there. You won't make fun of me?"

Tyler frowns and shakes his head. "Absolutely not. Now isn't the time or place to be making fun of you. I wouldn't make fun of you for that in the first place. In this household, we're about praise and body positivity."

"You're seriously the nicest alpha I've ever met. Jesus."

"If you don't want me to do that, it's totally okay man. Whatever you're comfortable with."

"I want you to, so bad. I am just... very nervous, and don't know how to go about it."

"You don't really have to do anything, man. I just want to make you feel good."

Josh sits up again and looks Tyler in the eye for the first time in awhile. "I want to make you feel good too, though." He's frowning slightly and his cheeks are nice and rosy and Tyler swoons. "It shouldn't be _just_ about me."

"You're my priority right now." Tyler reaches up to place his hand on Josh's cheek, one of his usual signs of affection. Josh slouches slightly and leans into it. "If you want to get me off, I'm totally cool with that, but this--this is your first time doing anything sexual. I want it to be as special as possible, for you. It shouldn't be about me right now. At all. You're not at all obligated to--to get me off, either. Please don't feel obligated. I don't expect anything like that from you."

Josh puffs one of his cheeks out, and brings his own hand up to place it on the outside of the hand that Tyler has on his cheek. "Can you just do the alpha thing and take over...? And I'll tell you if I don't like something? I trust you."

Tyler gives him a reassuring grin before nodding. "Stand up for a second?"

Josh listens to him, and shifts back and forth on his feet when Tyler stands up too. He has a confused look on his face when Tyler places his hands on his shoulders, and moves him along until he's sitting on the couch, and Tyler's standing in front of him. Josh's confused look goes away when Tyler's dropping to his knees on the ground before him, though.

Tyler scoots forward, and Josh reaches down, and hovers his hand above Tyler's head. "Can I--can I touch you...?"

Tyler nods. "Of course you can. Don't, uh, pull my hair out or anything, but you can touch me."

Josh shakes his head, as if to say he doesn't want to hurt Tyler, before running his fingers through the alpha's hair, which is fluffy and a little overgrown at the moment.

Tyler keeps his movements slow as he reaches up to unbuckle Josh's belt, and to unbutton his jeans. Before he goes any further, he asks, "Are you _positive_ you want this?"

Josh nods quickly.

"Say it. I want to hear you say it." Tyler gives him a stern look, a look that tells Josh it was an order.

"I want it, Tyler. If I'm uncomfortable or if we need to slow down or anything, I promise I'll tell you."

Tyler holds up his pinkie, and Josh rolls his eyes a little bit before he hooks his own pinkie around Tyler's, pinkie promising him that, _yes,_ he'll say something if he wants to stop or slow down.

At that, Tyler _slowly_ unzips Josh's jeans, and Josh curls his fist into a ball in his hair. "I was serious. Don't make fun of me."

"I was serious too, Josh. I'm not going to make fun of you. I can already promise you that you're perfect." Tyler takes one of Josh's hands, the one not in his hair, and kisses his knuckles in lieu of a kiss on the mouth. After this, he gently and slowly hooks his fingers into Josh's jeans, and tugs them down until they're resting at the tops of his thighs, and until he can see the tent in Josh's underwear.

Tyler looks up at Josh, and when Josh nods and says, "Keep going," in that quiet, shy voice of his, he... keeps going. He tugs the omega's underwear down next, slowly of course, and the first thing out of his mouth is, "I was _right._ You're perfect."

Josh makes a face at Tyler and looks somewhere to his right, avoiding Tyler's eyes. He can feel what feels like raw electricity shooting down his abdomen, and he's pretty sure all of his blood is rushing towards his groin, especially as Tyler's right hand slides up his thigh, over his hip, and wraps around his cock, which is hard and leaking onto the alpha's fist.

The tip of Josh's cock barely pokes up above where Tyler's fist is wrapped around it, but Tyler doesn't care. He strokes it a few times, small, slow movements, before dipping his head down and leaving a trail of kisses starting at the base of the omega's cock, all the way to the tip. Tyler wraps his lips around the tip of Josh's cock, and sucks on it a little bit, tonguing his slit and trying not to smirk at how Josh whines and squirms above him.

Tyler starts bobbing his head, taking all of Josh in his mouth each time he bobs his head _down,_ and he winds up with his left hand shoved into his own jeans, stroking himself while he goes down on Josh. Tyler winds up with his right hand on Josh's knee, and both of Josh's fists curled up in his hair as the omega weakly fucks into his mouth, and as little moans and repeated phrases of, _"Oh_ god, _Tylertylertyler--alpha--I'm coming,"_ are spilling from Josh's pretty lips, and as Josh is coming into Tyler's mouth, Tyler's spilling into his own fist and moaning around Josh as he does it.

Josh spends a few minutes heaving, basically, and trying to catch his breath before getting Tyler's attention. Tyler lifts his head from where it was resting on Josh's thigh, and asks, "You good?"

"More than. Um. Do you--do you want me to get you off too...?"

Tyler shakes his head, and Josh watches as he pulls his hand out of his pants, only to hold it up to reveal the mess he'd made in the palm of his hand.

Josh's face turns about five shades darker, and it takes him a few seconds to decide on how to react. He winds up just grabbing a few tissues from the box Tyler keeps next to the couch, and offering them to the alpha, which makes Tyler start giggling, and, in turn, makes Josh start giggling too.

Tyler takes the tissues, and uses them to wipe his hand off while Josh is pulling his underwear and jeans back up. When Tyler stands up to go throw the tissues away, he asks, "Was that alright? Like... are you good?"

"I've already told you, man--I'm _good._ Go throw those away then come cuddle me."

*

Tyler's bedroom is large, and almost _grand,_ Josh observes as he's stepping into it, behind Tyler. It's late, and they've spent the past hour and a half cuddling and scenting each other on Tyler's couch.

The second thing Josh notices is that Tyler's bed looks a _lot_ like his own bed, and it makes him smile fondly. Tyler doesn't have the same kind of mattress that Josh has--the kind _meant_ for nesting--but there's blankets and pillows all over it, positioned in the way that a nest would be. It's endearing as _fuck,_ and makes him ask, "Alphas nest too?"

Tyler blanks for a few moments, before he sees the state of his bed. Josh is pretty sure he can see the alpha physically blushing as he answers him. "I mean... yeah. Maybe not to the extent that omegas do, but sometimes I get sad or whatever and kind of just want to burrow down into a bunch of blankets. It's a comfort thing. It's not weird, is it?"

Josh shakes his head. "No, no, not at all. I think it's cute." Josh steps over to Tyler, and gives him a hug. "If you're alright with it, I'd, personally, be _honored_ to share your nest with you."

Tyler snorts, and avoids eye contact as he nudges Josh away. "It's not a proper nest. Just a pile of blankets and pillows. Um... If you want to go shower or something, I can make my bed, and make it look more, uh... more normal."

Josh shakes his head again, this time a frown on his face. "If you make your bed, I will... Well, I don't know what I'll do, but I'll be upset about it. Laying under five hundred blankets with you after the night we've had is basically a dream."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "ill do a shorter chapter this time" i tell myself before posting an almost 7k word chapter :)


	4. Chapter 4

Josh wakes up the next morning to Tyler kissing and sucking love bites into his neck. Tyler's hard--Josh can feel it on his hip--and he's not trying to hide it. Josh breathes in through his nose, letting Tyler's scent wash over him. He doesn't smell any particular way, aside from just a dash of arousal, at least, and Josh sighs contently.

"You're awake, right?" Tyler's voice is a deep rumble, and Josh can feel the vibration of his vocal cords coming from Tyler's neck.

"I'm pretty sure I am," Josh mumbles back. "I might be dreaming, though. There's this really hot alpha lying on top of me, and I dunno if he's quite real, y'know?"

Tyler snorts and Josh is pretty sure he rolls his eyes. "Do you want to mess around a little more before I try, and ultimately fail, to make you breakfast?" is what he asks, lips moving against Josh's neck.

"What does your version of messing around include?" Josh's hand slips under the back of Tyler's shirt, flat against his back, warm and steady.

Tyler shrugs. "I dunno. I'm sleepy and you smell nice."

Josh grunts, and adjusts his position, letting his eyes drift shut again. "Somehow, I doubt that. I can smell my own armpits from up here."

"I think it's kind of hot," Tyler tells him.

Josh shakes his head.

*

Tyler makes a valiant effort in his quest to make breakfast for Josh, but after watching him try to get the right ratio with pancake batter for half an hour, Josh shoos him away, telling him to feed his flytraps while he figures it out himself.

Josh takes maybe a few minutes to get the ratio right, and spends a good twenty minutes using Tyler's electric griddle to make a bunch of pancakes and some eggs for either of them to eat. By the time he's done, and has plates made for either of them, and leftover pancakes on their own plate, Tyler's just barely using a toothpick to coax the last flytrap into closing its mouth around a dead mealworm.

"Watching you cook is reminding me how awful of an adult I am," Tyler's muttering as he's seating himself at his kitchen table.

Before sitting across from him, Josh kisses him on the cheek. "Everyone has their skills. If it makes you feel any better, every plant I've tried taking care of has died, whereas your entire house is, like... a botanical garden."

"So... can I ask what got you into baking...? I just think it's kind of cool, and we've never really talked about our chosen career paths. Also, trying to make conversation and all." Tyler shrugs, and uses his fork to cut out a bite from his two pancakes.

"Uh..." Josh takes a moment to start cutting his pancake into individual bites rather than a bite at a time while he thinks of how to explain it. "Well... When I was in high school, I was a very stressed little dude, and when I got super stressed I would bake, and one thing lead to another, went to culinary school, and wound up coming into some money and I used it to open my own bakery. How about you? What got you into... plants?"

"Parents had a greenhouse, and I used to help my dad take care of plants. I just like the feeling of taking care of something, and knowing that my hands are, in fact, capable of cultivating life, and that I don't destroy everything that I touch."

Josh glances up at him at that last sentence. "May I ask why you'd think that...?" He quirks an eyebrow. "Like... I don't understand how your hands would destroy anything, really."

"I had a lot of anxiety and depression problems when I was in my early twenties. It's gotten a lot better, obviously, but, ah... Taking care of plants soothes it. I feel as if this isn't quite appropriate to discuss over breakfast."

Josh rolls his eyes. "Dude, we just dry humped each other like a couple of teenagers not more than an hour ago. I think we can talk about stuff that runs a little deeper than what we usually talk about, given you're comfortable with it, of course."

"It's kind of like how you bake to cope with stress, except instead of baking, say, four hundred some odd cookies, I'll instead go around my house and go through my greenhouse and take care of my plants until I feel a little more level headed. It gives me something to do."

"That's why I stress bake. Gives me a task, and something to do, rather than having an anxiety attack or something. I mean, I still have them anyways, but when I can, I try funneling all of that energy into baking. Also--before I forget, can I ask you something?" Josh chews on the inside of his cheek, and once Tyler nods for him to continue, he asks, "We're, like... _together,_ right? Or at least, uh... y'know... Past the point of casual?"

Tyler nods again, slower this time. "I think it's safe to say that, yes. I mean... I'm pretty attached to you, and I care about you a lot more than you think I do. Why?"

"I just want to make sure we're on the same page."

"Are we? On the same page, I mean."

"We are, yeah. I, uh... I feel _drawn_ towards you, and I feel closer to you than I do to pretty much anyone else, so... I'd probably be crushed if we weren't on the same page."

*

Josh doesn't see a whole lot of Tyler the week after he introduces the alpha to his family, but, as expected, the next Friday, Tyler steps into Josh's bakery carrying his weekly bouquet. This week's bouquet consists of red and pink carnations, along with white gardenias sprinkled in here and there, and when Tyler explains that the bouquet basically means that he just _really_ fucking likes Josh, the omega just _has_ to kiss him for at least a few seconds.

*

"He _nests?_ That's so _cute."_ Ashley is gushing and Josh so desperately wants to tell her to shut up and just to drink the coffee he'd bought her, but he feels like that'd be mean, so he doesn't do that.

"He said he does it for comfort. He's not nearly as bad about it as I am, but you're right--it was totally adorable." Josh smiles fondly as he looks down into his own drink. He and Ashley are sat in the corner of a Starbucks, catching up, since they haven't spoken a whole lot since Christmas. "We also, uh... Did some stuff."

Her eyebrows go up. "Stuff? Please, do go on." She mimics tucking a lock of hair behind her ear (which she can't do, given her hair is freshly buzzed at the moment) while she waits for Josh to elaborate.

"Like, _sexual_ stuff. I'm sure to someone who's been claimed and mated for years now a blowjob isn't anything impressive, _but--"_

"-- _but,_ it was a big step for you, given all of your weird trust issues with alphas, right?"

Josh nods and bites the inside of his bottom lip. "Yeah."

"How'd he handle it?" She keeps her voice low, acting as if this is the most interesting thing she's ever heard. "Did he push any boundaries, or...?"

"Oh, absolutely not. He would never. Shit--I'm probably the one who had to tell him to get the fuck on with it, because he kept asking me if I was sure." He rolls his eyes. "Again--I know it wasn't a lot, but it made me feel so _close_ to him."

Ashley smiles, and it's not a shit-eating smile like usual. She's happy for him. "That's what it's supposed to feel like."

*

Josh knows that it's normal for alphas to be possessive of their omegas (or at least omegas that they're courting-slash-dating) but he's still a little caught off guard when he catches a good nose full of slightly angry pheromones washing off of Tyler as the alpha slides his arm around Josh's waist. They're standing in the waiting area of a restaurant, waiting for Jenna and Mark to show up, since the four of them are going on a sort of double date, and Josh is confused as to why Tyler's getting possessive all of a sudden, until he makes eye contact with another alpha sitting on the other side of the waiting area, one that's giving him a predatory look.

Josh is used to feeling eyes on him when he's out in public, and for the most part, it doesn't bother him. It doesn't make him feel great, sure, knowing someone's checking him out and totally imagining him in compromising positions, but he's used to it. He leans over to lowly say, "Don't pay attention to him," into Tyler's ear before going back to looking at his phone.

Tyler grunts and, of course, doesn't listen, at least not completely. He moves his arm from Josh's waist to his shoulders, holding him close, and Josh rolls his eyes a little bit. He drops the attitude, though, when Tyler's other arm wraps around him too, and he finds himself being hugged. He mumbles, "You're possessive," quietly, and Tyler just gives him a peck on the cheek.

*

"What are you doing for Valentine's?" It's late in the evening, and Josh is kneading bread dough while Tyler leans against the door frame, eyeballing him curiously. (Tyler closes up shop around five, whereas Josh's bakery usually stays open until eight, unless it's a Friday.)

"Well, considering I'm emotionally and romantically occupied at the moment, I think it's safe to say that I'm not doing anything, unless you want to make plans, which is why you're here, I assume."

Tyler nods, even if Josh isn't looking at him. "I was thinking maybe we could go out on a date, something romantic, then go back to either your place or mine, and...?"

_"And...?"_ Josh casts a glance his direction, one eyebrow raised.

"You know. Do stuff. If you're okay with it, of course."

"What, like, play Monopoly?" Josh grunts as he puts as much force as he can into kneading his bread dough.

Tyler scoffs. "Josh, you know what I mean. I was just thinking... Maybe we could go out, have a nice, romantic evening, and then maybe we spend a few hours lovin' on each other a little bit. Or a lot. Whatever you're comfortable with, really. I sort of like going all out for Valentine's Day, y'know? Maybe sprinkle some rose petals on the floor, light some candles..."

"You are such a hopeless romantic," Josh comments affectionately with a fond smile on his face. "I mean, I love that about you. I think it's sweet."

A goofy grin comes across Tyler's face. "I will seriously sprinkle rose petals all over the floor in my house if it means wooing you. Don't think for a second that I won't."

"I don't doubt that at all. How about you make some romantic plans, the kind of shit that's going to make my teeth rot, and I'll just go with it like I usually do and if we're both comfortable with it, we can mess around a bit."

*

Josh spends three hours getting ready on the evening of Valentine's after Tyler sends him a text that reads, _"We're doing something fancy. Dress up."_

To Josh, 'dressing up' means pulling out a button down shirt and a pair of tight fitting slacks, and rooting around his shoe bin for a pair of dress shoes that he hasn't worn since the last funeral he had to go to, which was roughly four years ago following the passing of his paternal grandfather.

Tyler shows up at Josh's apartment around seven, looking as handsome as ever, and Josh is sure to tell him as much, saying, "You look handsome as fuck, bro." He reaches up to adjust the collar on Tyler's shirt a little bit, a small gesture of affection, and Tyler just grins like an idiot.

"You look lovely as well, Joshua. I think this is the nicest I've ever seen you dress up."

Josh smirks a little bit. "Well, you said to dress up, and I'd like to think that I clean up nicely. Don't let the bad dye job and the tattoos fool you. I can totally look formal when I want to." Josh leans forward to press a kiss to Tyler's cheek, and when he pulls away, Tyler sneaks in a quick little smooch to the omega's lips.

Josh giggles a little bit from the smooch, and winds up giving Tyler a quick, but tight, hug.

*

'Something fancy' in Tyler's book means going to an Italian restaurant that's barely a step above an Olive Garden. It's nice enough that Tyler had to make a reservation a few days in advance, though, and Josh sort of just wants to curl up on the floor and fake-cry to himself because of how touched he is over it.

Either of them order a glass of their cheapest wine, Josh orders cheese ravioli with some sort of tomato sauce, and Tyler goes with the safe choice of spaghetti. Once they have their wine and while they're waiting for their meals, and while Josh is tearing off a piece of a bread stick, he comments, "This is a little fancier than I was expecting, if I'm being completely honest."

"I'm here to impress, man." Tyler holds his wine glass up, and Josh holds his up as well so he can gently clink it against Tyler's. "It's Valentine's, so, like... I'm not going to half ass it, y'know? I figure a romantic date in a sort of nice restaurant sure as hell beats a shitty box of chocolates."

"So, you _didn't_ get me a shitty box of chocolates?" Josh raises his eyebrows.

"Of _course_ I did. I'm just saying that's not _all_ I'm going to do for you tonight. I think a nice, romantic dinner, flowers, shitty chocolates, and whatever _other_ romantic activities we may or may not get up to are all part of a solid Valentine's Day, y'know?" Tyler shrugs, and bites off the end of a breadstick of his own as he looks at Josh, waiting for his response.

"I mean... It's definitely the most anyone's ever bothered to do for me for Valentine's. Last year, this beta I was seeing for a few months got me a single red rose, and the tiniest, most pathetic box of chocolates, then tried propositioning me. Although I'm not _that_ materialistic, he could've _at_ _least_ done a dozen red roses, and gotten chocolates that didn't come from the bargain aisle in a Walmart. And, I mean, I could've definitely done without the propositioning and objectification, but that's neither here nor there." Josh shakes his head a little bit, and waves his hand dismissively.

"Obviously I'm glad you're not seeing that asshole anymore," Tyler mumbles around a bite of bread stick.

"I mean, same, obviously. Isn't it kind of a social taboo to discuss exes on a date?"

Tyler snorts and rolls his eyes. "Probably, but I don't care if you talk about your exes. Within reason, of course, but trust me--you're fine. I don't mind."

"Do you have any interesting ex stories? I don't know a whole lot about your dating history. It's none of my business, of course, but sometimes I get curious."

"I tried dating an alpha at some point," Tyler begins with a sip of wine. "Mark's very... He's very into the idea of not judging someone by their status, which I totally agree with, but when it comes to me and dating, I do have a preference for omegas, kind of like how betas typically date other betas or how omegas typically date alphas. Mark decided I should step outside of my comfort zone, though, and set me up on a date with another alpha. It was awkward and weird and lasted for _maybe_ a month."

"How was it weird?" Josh leans forward a bit, obviously interested in the story.

"It was weird in the way that alphas are typically the more _dominant_ ones in relationships, so... Imagine two dudes making out, except both of them are trying to lead. It was _weird,_ and didn't feel right." Tyler shudders, an exaggerated motion, and it makes Josh giggle a little bit.

"That's sort of how I've felt with some of the omegas I've tried being with, except it was more like we were both trying to coax the other into leading, and it was just sort of awkward. To be fair, I did get a lot of cuddles from the omegas I've been with, but that was basically all the action I got."

"I don't mean to be weird, but that's, like, sort of adorable."

"You're definitely weird, but I love and accept that about you, so I think I'll let it slide just this once."

"If we weren't in the middle of a nice restaurant, I would _so_ kiss you right now. I just want you to know that."

Josh scrunches his face up for a moment, before his expression relaxes into a soft, fond smile. "I'd gladly accept that kiss."

*

Josh has a hard time keeping his hands off of Tyler once the two off them are in Tyler's house. As soon as the door is shut behind them, Josh is shoving Tyler against it, as gently as he can, and smashes his lips against the alpha's. Tyler's hands rest on Josh's hips as the two of them kiss against the door, and when Josh goes to leave a few claim marks on Tyler's neck, the alpha nudges him away, saying, "I can't wait to _fool around,_ trust me, but there's a few things I need to do first before anything happens."

Josh is a little dejected, but judging by Tyler's scent, he's fairly confident that it's nothing _bad,_ so begrudgingly, he sits and waits in one of the arm chairs in Tyler's living room before he's being retrieved.

"If I wasn't weak, and if you weren't so _beefy_ , I would totally carry you up the stairs, but I'm _not_ looking to put my back out, _so_ I would like you to imagine that I'm spiritually carrying you up the stairs." Tyler's holding his hand almost politely as he leads him up the stairs, and Josh fails to hold back a grin.

Tyler seems almost bashful as he's slowly opening his bedroom door, and Josh's jaw drops once he sees it.

There's rose petals sprinkled all over the floor, and there's candles, both real and fake ones, all over the room. "I know I said that I wouldn't doubt for a second that you'd do this, but I sort of didn't think you'd... y'know... _do it."_

Josh bends down and picks up one of the petals, and feels it between his thumb and index finger. It's fake, and before he can comment on it, Tyler explains. "I felt bad about picking petals off of a bunch of roses, so... fake ones will have to do. Is this--is this romantic enough?"

"I'm not--I'm not fucking you," Josh states before anything else.

"No, no! No, man, that's not--that's not at all what I'm going for. I still wouldn't mind, ah... y'know. _Fooling around._ It's Valentine's, though, so I had to make it as romantic as I possibly could. No sex, though. Not until we're both ready, and not without a lengthy discussion beforehand."

Josh nods, and lets the fake petal flutter to the ground. He steps over to Tyler, and places his hands on the alpha's cheek, nice and gentle, and leads him into a slow, drawn out sort of kiss. Tyler's hands return to their place on Josh's hips, and Josh's arms wind up thrown over Tyler's shoulders as they kiss each other.

After a brief exchange, they decide to move their make out session to Tyler's bed, with Tyler on his back, and Josh lying on top of him, kissing him pretty enthusiastically. Josh feels a little confident in himself, and after adjusting his hips a little bit, only to feel the beginnings of Tyler's hard on pressing into his hip, he rolls his own hips against the alpha's, which draws a sort of gentle groan out of his lips.

Tyler's hands slide from Josh's waist to his back, then down to cop a _feel_ , and while Tyler's doing _that,_ Josh finally gets his chance to attach his mouth to Tyler's neck. When Tyler's tugging Josh's button down out of his slacks so he can slide his hands up his shirt, the omega feels a rush of affection come over him, and he makes a small noise in the back of his throat as an urge to _bite_ Tyler's neck basically slams into him like a two ton weight.

He doesn't bite Tyler, but he does lightly graze his teeth over the alpha's scent gland, before sucking a harsh little claim mark into the tan skin. Tyler sighs in a pleasured way, and tilts his head away from Josh, exposing his neck further, and rolling his hips _up_ against him. Josh swears he gets about five times harder when Tyler lets out a mumbled, "I'm yours," after he decides to indulge himself and nip at the skin where he'd just left a claim mark on Tyler's neck.

Josh has to use his arms to prop himself up, and to look down into Tyler's eyes. He's breathing a little heavier than he thought he was, and Tyler looks a little confused.

"Was that too much?"

"No, but if I don't stop, I'm going to wind up biting you," Josh tells him before bending down and crashing his lips against Tyler's. Their noses knock together and Josh feels their teeth clink a few times, but he doesn't care, especially as Tyler's flipping him onto his back.

Josh basically melts into the mattress, and he reveals his own neck to Tyler, partially as an invitation for the alpha to leave a few claim marks on him, and also as a sign of submission. "I don't have the words to describe how... how _irresistible_ you're being right now."

Josh knows he probably shouldn't feel safe or relaxed right now, especially considering Tyler is pinning his wrists down next to his head, and that the alpha is straddling his hips, effectively blocking him from moving, but as he looks up into his eyes, which are soft and fond and so full of affection, he feels something warm and sweet wash over him, feels his heart swell, ready to explode, and before his brain has a chance to catch up with his mouth, he finds himself saying, "I love you," in a tone that makes it sound as if he's just discovered the meaning of life. (And, really, if he's being a cornball, he sort of has.)

They stare at each other for what feels like an eternity. Josh can feel anxiety bubbling up in his gut, and he's about to start panicking, at least until Tyler says, "Say that again," as if he hadn't heard him the first time, as if he can't quite believe it.

Josh frowns slightly. "I love you...?"

"Again."

"Tyler--" Josh goes to tug his wrists free, but Tyler tightens his grip, and gives him a stern look.

_"Say it again."_ He's using a certain _tone,_ making it obvious that it was an _order,_ and Josh can feel butterflies deep in his gut. He sort of likes it when Tyler tells him what to do.

Josh whines a little bit, but obeys nonetheless. "I love you." His voice is a few octaves higher than it usually is and the next thing Josh knows Tyler has his face crammed into his neck, inhaling and kissing and nipping and _sucking._ Josh starts feeling a little panicky anyways, unfortunately, and yanks one of his hands free so he can pat Tyler on the back and say, "Please say it back before I start crying or something."

Tyler lets go of his other wrist, and places his hands on either side of Josh's face as he looks him in the eye. Josh can see him nibbling on his cheek a little bit before he says it. "I love you too." His cheeks are red and his tone is tender and Josh wraps his arms around Tyler's torso when the alpha bends down to kiss him. This kiss is softer and Josh can _feel_ the emotion behind it.

He nudges Tyler back a little bit so that he can mumble out, "You're not just saying that, right?" against his mouth.

Tyler shakes his head gently. "No. I wouldn't lie to you like that." He kisses Josh again. "You're not just saying it either, right?"

"Why would you be insecure about that?" Josh makes a face even if Tyler can't see it, given their faces are less than an inch apart. "Of course I'm not just saying it."

"Sometimes I just worry that you're leading me on," Tyler mumbles. "It's a completely unfounded worry, of course, but that's never stopped me."

Josh rolls his eyes a little bit, and rolls either of them over, until he's the one straddling Tyler, looking down at him with a fire in his eyes. "I'm absolutely _not_ leading you on. For the fourth time, I love you." Josh pulls one of Tyler's usual moves, and places his palm against the alpha's cheek, and looks down into his eyes. He strokes his thumb across Tyler's bottom lip.

Tyler looks awestruck, if anything.

Josh's head dips back down, and he attaches his mouth to the space between Tyler's neck and his shoulder, and sucks a dark, purple mark into his tanned skin. Tyler gasps, and he finds himself whining a little bit when Josh's head moves lower, gingerly taking one of Tyler's nipples, which are dark and _hard,_ into his mouth. He licks over it, bites it a little bit and sucks on it too and Tyler can't help it when he ruts his hips up against Josh's groin.

Josh's mouth is halfway between the bottom of Tyler's ribs and Tyler's belly button when Tyler asks, "What are you doing?"

Josh looks up at him, eyes wide and round and so _beautiful,_ and with flushed cheeks he mumbles out, "Kind of, um... Wanted to go down on you...? I want to--I want to make you feel good. I want you to feel good. I'm allowed, right?"

Tyler reaches down and cards his fingers through Josh's hair as he nods. "As long as you feel comfortable and safe, then I'm good."

"Just a fair warning," Josh starts as he slowly unbuckles Tyler's belt, "but, obviously I've, uh... Never done this, so... Please be patient and gentle with me."

"I mean... it's not really that hard," Tyler mumbles.

Josh looks up at him with raised eyebrows, then glances at the alpha's groin, before glancing back up into his eyes. "Is that so?"

Tyler blanks for a few moments before realization dawns on him, causing him to start cackling. He gets Josh in the side with one of his legs. "Shut up."

Josh grins up at him, full of sunshine and glee. "I love you so much."

Tyler's heart swells and he just smiles back. "I love you too."

After that, Josh unbuttons and unzips Tyler's slacks, and Tyler lifts his hips up a bit to allow Josh to pull his slacks down far enough for him to be able to see his tented boxers. He gulps a little bit, and he's sure his eyes are bulging out of his head as he's tugging the alphas boxers down, leaving his cock free to spring up. "Um. Holy shit. You're, like... Big."

Tyler smirks.

Josh doesn't touch Tyler's cock right away, instead hovering his hand near it, until Tyler gives him a permissive nod. He starts with his hand at the head of the alpha's cock, and slides it down slowly, and before he can stop himself from his habit of nervously rambling, he finds himself saying, "I don't even think any of my toys are this big. Jesus."

Josh slaps his other hand over his mouth, giving Tyler this wide-eyed look, and Tyler starts laughing again.

"I need to learn to not talk when I'm nervous," is what he mumbles behind his hand.

"Josh, honey, you're alright." Tyler reaches down to card his fingers through Josh's hair, as a comforting gesture. His face goes from soft and fond to a little mischievous, though, as he asks, "Are you going to have to invest in some bigger toys, then?"

Josh huffs, and shakes his head. "No. They're expensive, and I'm _hoping_ that at some point, I won't need to have _any_." He shrugs a little bit, and hesitates for a moment before he gives the tip of Tyler's cock a slow but small lick.

Tyler lets his head fall back onto his pillow, and keeps his hand in Josh's hair as Josh does his thing, experimenting and watching Tyler's reactions. Josh has, on occasion, licked his fingers after getting himself off, and he's never seen the appeal of cock, at least not his own, until he's slowly taking a few inches of Tyler into his mouth.

Tyler doesn't taste like anything special, he doesn't think, but rather sort of how he smells mixed with hints of _alpha musk_ and precum. Josh still loves it, though, and winds up digging the fingers of his left hand into Tyler's hip a little too hard as he resists the urge to reach under himself to relieve himself at least a little bit as he bobs his head on the alpha's cock.

Tyler's into it, of course he is, and keeps muttering praise to Josh, calling him beautiful and perfect and telling him how good he's doing, feeding him full of confidence and painting his cheeks a lovely cherry red shade.

Tyler doesn't take too awful long before he's cumming. He warns Josh a few moments beforehand, giving the omega long enough to pull off of him, and for him to stroke Tyler's cock almost rapidly, squeezing his eyes shut as Tyler shoots his load onto Josh's face.

Tyler groans once he looks down at Josh, who's patting him on the stomach, trying to get him to hand him _something_ to wipe his face off with.

Tyler grabs a few tissues from the box on one of his side tables, and oddly enough, the moment where he's wiping his own load off of Josh's face, so gently, holding his chin the entire time, is oddly sweet. Josh opens his eyes as Tyler's leaning off of the side of his bed to throw the tissues away, and once Tyler's back into a position to where he can look at Josh, he reaches out, just as he always does, and caresses his cheek, asking, "What can I do for you?"

"Get me off?" Josh looks at him through hooded eyes, eyebrows raised a little bit.

Tyler smirks a tiny bit. "How do you want me to do it?"

"How do _you_ want to do it?"

Tyler leans forward, takes a moment to nip at Josh's neck, causing the omega to gasp a little bit, before lowly asking, "Can I finger you?" into his ear.

Josh lets out a high pitched sort of keening whine at that, and nods before he's moving around Tyler, and lying flat on his back, legs spread a bit.

"Out loud. I want to hear you say it."

"Yes, Tyler. Yes. You can finger me. Fuck." Josh takes his belt and pants off almost embarrassingly quick before motioning Tyler over.

Tyler has stars in his eyes, and repeats, "Josh, I _really_ fuckin' love you," after producing a bottle of lube from a basket under the side of his bed.

*

The next time Tyler brings Josh a bouquet, this time two dozen red roses, Josh blurts out, "Do you still love me?"

Tyler's quick to set down the roses on the counter before stepping behind it, and giving Josh a quick hug in lieu of a kiss like he wants to (since there's a few customers eating in the back of the bakery at a table) and saying, "Yes, I still love you," quietly, into the top of his head. "You still love me, right?"

Josh nods quickly as he looks at Tyler, and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "So much, man."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> midnight snack
> 
> also hi fdsffdsf  
> this fic is turning out to be a fuuuuck of a lot longer than i anticipated  
> like dead ass i started this off like "oh itll be like maybe 3k lol"   
> nope  
> FUCKING NOPE  
> its NOT 3k. AT ALL.


	5. Chapter 5

"How do you feel about meeting my family?"

It's March now, and either of them are in Josh's bed, under a few blankets, since Tyler's spending the night.

"Hm," Josh hums contemplatively as he adjusts his position, subtly rubbing his ass against Tyler's dick, which he's been doing for the past half hour or so to tease him, since he sort of finds it funny when the alpha pops boners while they're cuddling. "Nervous, and anxious, of course. Why do you ask?"

"Well..." One of Tyler's hands come to rest on Josh's hip, and he's not at all subtle, nor does he try to be, about grinding his hips against Josh's ass. "My parents know someone who owns a pretty large cabin in this super scenic area, and once a year or so we fuck off for a week or two, and stay in the cabin and kind of just hang out, since we don't get to spend a whole lot of time together anymore, and, uh... My parents both suggested I invite you to go with us...? I mean, you don't have to, but... I figure introducing you to my family could be, ah, the next step in our relationship...? I've got mad feelings for you, bro."

Josh nods thoughtfully, even if half of his face is crammed into both his pillow and Tyler's arm. "Who all would be going?"

"My parents, of course, me, Zack, my brother, his wife, and his kids, and, uh... Jay, and then Maddy. All of my siblings are pretty alright. Um. Zack can be a tool sometimes, but you're allowed to beat him up. His wife is totally sweet, and his kids are, like, one and three. Jay sleeps a lot, I guess. Uh. Maddy's nice, too. My family is also, y'know... Kind of excited to meet you at some point...? 'Cause, like, I talk about you a lot, because I fuckin' love you and shit..." Tyler shrugs, and slides his hand down Josh's abdomen, teasingly dipping his fingers into the top of his basketball shorts.

"I mean... it sounds fun, and from what you've said about your family, I think it'd be, ah... Interesting."

*

Introductions go fairly smoothly. Josh is intimidated by Tyler's mother, and both of his brothers, all of whom are alphas, but he still smiles and shakes their hands. He pretty much falls in love with Tyler's nephew and niece, and he gets on well with his boyfriend's father, the only other omega among them.

Josh remembers that he hates the trend of awkward conversations that he has to have while eating dinner when Tyler's dad asks, "How long have you two been seeing each other?" rather innocently. His dad is super nice, and super polite, and Josh likes him, but he still hates that this opens up an awkward conversation.

"October, I think," Josh mumbles with a shrug as he uses a knife to cut up his pork chop.

"You two have been seeing each other for six months, and neither of you are claimed yet?" Tyler's sister in law glances between both of them, eyebrows raised, obviously surprised.

Tyler speaks up. "Not everyone mates and claims each other within two months of meeting each other. Also, that entire subject is highly personal and intimate and unless either of us feel comfortable doing so, it's none of any of your guys' business." Tyler looks between his family members with a stern look on his face, as if to challenge any of them to speak up.

"He did the same thing with Jenna. Never claimed her and then she dumped him and he didn't try dating or courting anyone else for, like, five years." Jay shrugs a little bit and purposefully avoids eye contact with Tyler, and Josh.

Josh swallows a bite of his pork chop, and speaks slowly and quietly. "I've never really been in a relationship with _anyone,_ at all, and I didn't want to jump into one with an alpha and potentially screw up and trap myself in an unhealthy relationship for the rest of my life because I let the wrong person claim me. I mean, Tyler's lovely," Josh reaches over to squeeze Tyler's shoulder before continuing, "and I'm fairly certain that's, like, a path we're heading down, but I'm personally more comfortable going slow with it rather than just diving in head first. What we do together, in private, is very personal and intimate, like he said, and I'd prefer not to discuss that at dinner, or with anyone aside from him. I also think it's wildly inappropriate that any of you are even asking about that in the first place."

"Let's move on," is what Tyler's mother says before anyone else can say anything or make any smart ass comments. She uses a tone very similar to the one Tyler uses when he's giving an _order._ "Josh, honey, what do you do for a living?"

"I own a bakery." Josh grins a little bit. He may or may not love talking about his bakery.

"You know the bakery across the street from my flower shop? That's his," Tyler tells his mom. "It's how we met, actually. He's super good at baking, and at this point, he's, like, most of the reason I haven't starved to death."

Josh smiles to himself and shakes his head a little bit as Tyler's mom and sister 'aww' at them.

*

Josh is in the middle of changing into attire fit for sleeping in when Tyler starts talking. Tyler's on the bed in the bedroom either of them are staying in at the cabin, watching his boyfriend get dressed with a fond look on his face. "So... What you were talking about earlier... About how we're, uh... Heading down a certain path...?"

"Go on...?" Josh looks at him over his shoulder for a moment.

"You're actually, like... _considering_ it?"

"Considering _what?"_ Josh's tone is laced with a laugh. He's sort of playing stupid, and Tyler knows it.

"You know what I mean. You can picture us, like... _having_ that sort of life together?"

Josh shrugs, and slips an over sized t-shirt on, and peels his jeans off, leaving him in the t-shirt and his underwear, and when he turns around, before getting into the bed, he answers him. "Honestly? I can. I mean, I don't think it's going to happen immediately, or even that soon, but..." He crawls over Tyler, and gets himself situated under the blankets before continuing, "...when I picture having, say, a future with you, it doesn't feel weird or wrong. I like the pace that our relationship is moving at. It's not so slow that it's boring, but, it's not so fast that I'm getting overwhelmed. Sometimes I get nervous or a little scared, but you always walk me through it and I never feel pressured, and I like that. How about you? Can _you_ see us... y'know. Working out in the long run?"

Tyler nods after rolling over to face Josh. He waits until after Josh has reached over him to turn the lamp in the room off before answering. "I definitely can. I just want to love you as much as you'll let me, and, y'know... When I picture myself with a family in the future, it definitely doesn't feel wrong to picture you there with me. Shit, I'd even go so far as to say it feels right. I think we're, uh, on the same page about that stuff."

Josh smiles, and scoots closer to Tyler, wrapping his limbs around the alpha. "I'm so not subtle about how much I like you, and how much I want shit to work out with you. I keep asking my mom and my best friend and anyone I know who's, y'know, mated-- _how do I kno_ _w_ _he's the one?"_ Josh uses a tone as he says the last part of that to signal that he's mocking himself.

"And what do they say?" Tyler runs his fingers through Josh's hair, nice and gentle.

"My mom says I'll be able to feel it in my gut. Y'know, gut feeling kind of shit."

"And do you?"

"When I first met you, no, I didn't, but as I've gotten to know you and as I've started to love and care about you more and more, I do. Whenever someone starts talking about having a mate, my first thoughts are usually a happy sigh, then you, and when I think about us having a life together, my gut tells me that's how it's supposed to be, so..." Josh shrugs as best as he can, and holds onto Tyler a little tighter. "Another way that I want to think about it is, like... Well, when vague ideas, say, me wanting to have a mate and a few kids--when those ideas quit being _vague,_ and when that hypothetical mate quits just being an idea and starts being a specific person... I feel like that's a good indicator. That hypothetical mate that I've always dreamed of having quit being hypothetical, and sort of turned into you? If that makes any sense? Also, I totally feel like I need to shut up and that I'm embarrassing myself--"

Tyler interrupts him with a _shh._ "You're not embarrassing yourself. Stop that. I'm positive that I'm with you on the hypothetical mate thing. _My_ hypothetical mate has also quit being hypothetical. It's quit being this intangible idea. I feel weird and pushy for thinking about you like that, but it's, like... I can't help it." Tyler whines quietly, and kisses the side of Josh's head, since that's about all he can reach. "I just _love you_ so much."

"Even if it was an accident on my part, I'm glad we're, like, to the point of being able to say _'I love you'_ to each other."

*

Tyler feels his heart swelling with affection when he walks into the living room of the cabin after waking up, to see Josh holding his (Tyler's) nephew while Tatum digs through a bag, muttering something about looking for a bottle for baby formula when Tyler says a quiet good morning to her.

Josh's face lights up as soon as he makes eye contact with Tyler, and he beams at the alpha. He doesn't say anything, since he has an infant sleeping on his shoulder, but when Tyler mouths, _"Love you,"_ at him, his grin grows even wider, wide enough that his eyes start crinkling a little bit and Tyler just _has_ to walk over to him to give him a kiss.

*

The cabin is built near a lake, and on day three of what is arguably a vacation, everyone makes the short trek to the lake. Josh is sitting on a patch of soft grass, sipping at a bottle of beer since it's late enough in the evening for him to warrant drinking a beer, watching as Tyler tries teaching his niece how to skip rocks.

He's a little off to the side of everyone else, far enough away that Tyler's father starts walking over, and Josh can just tell that he's in for a _talk._ He's a little glad that Tyler's father isn't an alpha, because he doesn't feel scared to say, "Here to give me the 'if you hurt my son, I'll kill you' talk?" once the man is within earshot of him.

Tyler apparently inherited his goofy grin from his dad, or so Josh thinks judging by the reaction that his hopefully future father in law has. The man shakes his head before lowering himself onto the ground with a grunt. "I feel like it would be a little inappropriate for me to threaten you like that."

"You can if you want. I mean, my dad threatened Tyler like that, so if you want to threaten me, it's only fair." Josh is joking, and has a half-grin on his face before taking a swig from the beer bottle.

Tyler's dad laughs a little bit and shakes his head. "I'll pass for now, son."

Josh nods a little bit, and doesn't say anything.

The silence is awkward, and Tyler's father is the first to break it. "I don't mean to make you uncomfortable--"

"--I think either way I'll be uncomfortable, so just say your piece," Josh tells him.

"Alright, I will. Why are you and my son putting off... _y'know...?"_

Tyler gets the 'y'know' thing from his father too, and Josh has to will himself not to snort. "I think it's less that we're putting off claiming each other, and more that I like to take things slower than most folk do, and he respects that, and he doesn't push me. I mean, he attempted to court me for three months before I agreed to go on a single date with him, so... Obviously we're moving at a snail's pace here, which I personally don't think is necessarily bad. And, _again,_ like either of us have said, our decision to wait to do that stuff, and our decision to go at our own pace is absolutely no one else's business but our own."

"You love him, right?"

"More than anyone, yes. If I can be honest with you, I don't--I don't think now is a great time for either of us to be claiming each other anyways. I mean, we don't live with each other, at least not yet, even though that's a direction we're definitely headed in. From what I hear, it's unpleasant, at the least, to be claimed and to _not_ be living with your partner, _so..."_ He shrugs. "Things will happen when they're meant to. My lease ends in June, though, so as far as the whole living together thing goes... We'll see. It's just a little annoying and uncomfortable that everyone either of us know keeps pressuring us to move forward." He takes another swig of his beer as an excuse to not have to talk.

"I'm not trying to pressure you at all." Tyler's father is very non threatening and Josh finds himself relieved by it. "I'm simply curious. I understand being apprehensive about moving forward with stuff like that. It's very intimidating."

Josh nods, and adjusts his position in the grass, extending one of his legs since his knee was hurting a little bit. "You're right. Everyone keeps questioning us about why we're moving so slow. Part of it is that... I'm twenty seven, almost twenty eight, and I've never even been in a serious relationship before, so I'm already out of my element as far as _that_ goes. I don't think it's bad to go slow with that stuff. Added... When I first met him, I didn't _know_ him, so I didn't want to just hop into a relationship with him only to find out that he's a fucking asshole. He's not, by the way. He's lovely."

"And my spawn... He _is_ good to you, correct?" Josh gets a raised eyebrow. Just one.

Josh huffs a bit before nodding. "He's amazing, honestly." He's about to go on and let himself gush about Tyler a little bit, but the alpha in question turns from where he'd been showing his niece how to properly hold the rock, so that he can look over to Josh, and wave with a wide, blinding smile on his face, and Josh just smiles softly back at him, and wiggles his fingers a little bit in lieu of a full on wave. "Has he always been good with kids?"

"He's dropped his brothers a few times, but all in all, yes."

Josh chokes on a sip of beer from laughing at that, because it sounds about right.

*

"My dad talked to you about our situation, right?" Tyler asks as he's handing a few dollar bills and a handful of coins to Josh, who'd paid for their fast food. (They'd decided to sneak out in the middle of the night for food, since neither of them could sleep, and since they were both feeling a little peckish.)

"He was nice about it," Josh says before anything else. "Wasn't being weird or pushy like my parents, or your siblings, _or_ fucking Ashley. Have I mentioned that she's been annoying lately as far as that goes?"

"You haven't, but I believe you," Tyler answers. While they wait for the tired cashier at the second window to bring them their food, Tyler speaks again. "My mom was bugging me about it. I think she, like, fails to understand that her and my dad have been together for thirty something years, and that she can get away with badgering my dad into doing things. I think she's just afraid that she's going to lose another child-in-law because I'm too 'afraid' to claim you." He's a little grumpy and Josh can smell that he's a touch upset. "I don't know why it matters so much. I don't know if it's a worry you have, but I don't _mind_ that we're going at a pace slower than most people do when it comes to all that shit. I think it's a good idea on either of our parts. My last serious relationship, which was with Jenna, was weird and went too fast because we didn't know any better, _so..._ I think it's smart to wait, and to plan shit out, rather than just getting caught up in the heat of the moment."

Josh gives Tyler his response once they have their food, and are pulled into a parking space in the parking lot of the fast food joint. "It's really no one else's business that we're waiting. _Which,_ like you said, is a smart thing to do. I mean, we don't live together, we're not married, legally or otherwise, not that I wouldn't love to be _eventually,_ and we also have the fact that I've never been in a serious relationship before, despite being twenty seven."

"Despite my parents being nosy... How do you like my family so far?"

"Your brother, the one with the kids, is kind of a dick, but everyone else is pretty cool. I like your sister in law. She's super nice, and her _kids--_ god. I want to just steal them. So cute."

"That's kidnapping, Josh." Tyler shakes his head with a little smirk on his lips.

Josh gets him in the arm with his elbow and rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Every time I'm around children, I'm just reminded of how bad I want them. They're expensive and all, but I just, like, _want_ that. I feel like that's too stereotypical of me--wanting kids."

"I don't think so." Tyler shrugs. "Kids are cool, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want kids either. It's a pretty common desire."

"Hm, true." Josh dips a french fry into the fry sauce container between his index finger and thumb. "Backtracking to the fact we don't live together... My lease is up in June, so... That's on the table...? I mean, I can easily just extend it for another year, and there's still a few months until a decision regarding that shit has to be made, but... Again, it's on the table."

"Huh." Tyler nods, and steals a fry from Josh. "We can talk about it when it's not midnight and we're not in a Burger King parking lot, yeah?"

Josh rolls his eyes again, but leans over to kiss Tyler's cheek anyways.

*

The rest of the trip, although fun, is rather uneventful, and the day after Josh gets home, he winds up at his parents' home for dinner, this time sans Tyler. He gets there a few hours early, since he doesn't have anything else he needs to do that day, and since he doesn't want to pester Tyler too much.

He's standing on the patio, smoking a cigarette and sipping from a glass of apple juice as if it's going to protect his lungs from the damage of the cancer stick between his fingers when he hears the sliding glass door behind him opening. He's half expecting it to be one of his siblings or his mom, so he doesn't look up from his phone, at least not until there's long arms wrapping around his shoulders, and he finds himself having to pick long, _blue_ hair from his mouth.

Josh flicks ashes off of his cigarette, and reaches around Jesse to put the cigarette out in the ashtray on the patio table before giving his friend a hug, a _tight_ hug, muttering, "God, it's been too long since I've seen you, man."

"You too, man, you too." Jesse hugs him back just as tight.

Josh detaches himself from the hug so he can look his friend in the eyes with a grin on his face. "What are you doing here? Did my mom finally adopt you?"

Jesse shakes his head with a friendly grin on his face. "As much as I'd love that, she hasn't yet. I'm still trying to charm her." He winks. "Actually, I was dropping off some paperwork for your sister to sign. Business stuff. Your mom told me that you were standing out here, though, so I thought I'd come say hi, and catch up. How are you doing, man?"

"Oh, _y'know."_ Josh shrugs, and continues once either of them are sitting on opposite sides of the patio table. "I'm doing pretty alright. Can't complain."

"Well, that's good. Your lovely sister tells me you're seeing someone." Jesse wiggles his eyebrows and shoots Josh an award winning yet slightly shit eating grin. "Tell Uncle Jesse about him."

"First of all," Josh starts as he leans back and crosses his arms over his chest, "Never refer to yourself as 'Uncle Jesse' again. That title is reserved for John Stamos, and John Stamos only. Second of all, he's pretty great. You seeing anyone?"

He shakes his head. "Not at the moment, no. I figure I could use some alone time, and so far, it's pretty sweet."

"Hey, before I trap myself in a conversation with one of my parents or siblings, can I get your two cents on something?" Josh inquires, tilting his head a little bit.

"Go for it." Jesse leans forward, fingers clasped in front of him as he waits.

"So, Tyler--the alpha I've been seeing... Well, things between us have been getting pretty serious, and I introduced the idea of us moving in together to him, because my lease is up in June, and we've been seeing each other since October. I know my family and his family, plus Blue Hair Ashley, are all going to pressure us into it, but what do _you_ think?"

"What are the pros?"

"Well, we love each other, and we also work across the street from each other, so we could save on gas. Um. We've also, like, established that we're interested in pursuing, like... A fairly long term relationship with each other. Like, mating, claiming, kids, the whole nine yards, so moving in together could be a step towards that. We could also save on gas driving to see each other, and I could cook for him, which I consider a pro for him at least, since he doesn't eat nearly as much as he should since he kind of sucks at cooking. He also has a nice house. It's a definite step up from my humble little shoe box."

"Are there any cons?"

"Aside from the possibility of us breaking up, or shit going wrong, not really."

"Honestly, man, as long as you've thought about it and the two of you talk about it and all that good stuff, I say do what makes you happy. If moving in with him is going to make you happy, then do it. Life's too short."


	6. Chapter 6

Josh is sitting on the counter in Tyler's kitchen in April the next time he brings it up. "I apologize if I'm jumping the gun here," he starts in his deep, gravely, _I just woke up_ voice as he takes a sip of coffee, "but, genuinely, how would you feel about living together...?" He looks at the alpha, making eye contact with him.

Tyler's about as tired as he is, since they're both adults in their late twenties and after yawning and taking a hearty swig of an energy drink, Tyler starts rambling back to him. "I enjoy the idea, and I think it's a logical next step. We're at each others' places all the goddamn time anyways, and we work, literally, right across the street from each other, so it'd make sense." Half of that is mumbled and he yawns a few more times while he's saying it. "You said your lease ends in June, right?"

Josh nods slowly. "Yeah. I still have time to renew it if you think this is too fast, or if you don't think it'd work out, but I'd like to plan ahead."

"How would sleeping situations go? Are we going to be one of those weird couples with separate bedrooms?"

"Absolutely not." Josh shakes his head. "If I have the option to sleep in the same bed as you, I'm sure as hell going to take it. Unless one of us is sick or something. In _that_ case--"

"--in that case, we're still sharing a bed, because if you ever get sick near me, I will absolutely want to coddle you, but if I get sick around you, I'm going to need to lay on you to get better. It's scientifically proven."

"It's scientifically proven that if you lay on me and cover me with all your gross alpha flu germs, you'll get better?"

Tyler scoffs a little bit, and nudges Josh with one of his knuckles. _"I_ was going to be sweet and say that it's scientifically proven that laying on someone you _love_ helps you feel better sooner, but if you want to call my illness a gross alpha flu, then fine." He has a playful look on his face, and sticks his tongue out at Josh.

Josh grins and laughs softly at him. "Back on topic... I worry about invading your personal space a lot, and like... I've had roommates and shit, so I know how the personal space thing can get. I'm not going to want to be in your face all the time, but I do know that living together can easily make or break a relationship."

"The difference here is that we're, like, sort of together, dude. We aren't going to be just _roommates_. I mean, if _Mark_ moved in and wanted to share my bed with me and kiss me all the time, I'd kick him out in a heartbeat, but I love you and shit, so if _you_ moved in and shared my bed and kissed me all the time I'd be fine with it. In fact, I'd welcome it. I mean, we see each other daily anyways, but if I got to come _home_ to you... Now that's some domestic shit that this guy," Tyler points his thumbs at himself, "can get behind."

Josh sets his coffee down, and pats his cheeks a few times as he squeezes his eyes shut.

"What's that look for?" Tyler's sidling on up to him, an ornery little look on his face, and nudges Josh's thighs apart so he can stand between them.

"I feel very overwhelmed from the sheer affection that I'm feeling for you right now."

"I don't know how you consistently manage to be adorable, but I fucking love it. May I kiss you, Joshua?"

Josh opens his eyes, hands still pressed to his cheeks, and nods.

They spend a few minutes kissing each other between fits of giggles and outright laughter, their cheeks red, and hearts full.

*

Josh is packaging a few boxes of cookies and other various goodies, to fill a few online orders, since he prefers to get those out of the way as fast as possible, while Ashley paces around the counter in circles. Josh is using a tape roller to tape a box shut when he slyly asks, "You trying to dig me a moat?" as Ashley makes her twenty seventh revolution around him. (He's been counting.)

"No, no. I'm just having a shitty day," she grumbles. "I got into it with _Gerald_ this morning, and he left the apartment smelling all angry and I feel bad."

Josh snorts, since she never uses his full name, unless they're fighting. "It must be bad if you aren't calling him G."

She pauses in her pacing to give him a _look._ She continues pacing as she continues speaking, though. "It wasn't even a bad fight. It's just... You know how we've been trying to... y'know? Have _kids_ for awhile now? At this point, I'm just--I'm not sure if I _can_ and we were both upset about it this morning, and somehow it just turned into us yelling at each other."

"Talk to him when he gets home," Josh tells her around a pen cap that he's holding in his mouth as he checks something off on a sheet of paper. "The two of you are mated and claimed and have been together for, what, five years now? It's not like he's going to leave you over an argument, of which you two have plenty."

"That doesn't mean it doesn't _suck_ to argue with him, though. Have you had any fights with Tyler yet?"

Josh shakes his head. "Not really. We argue over small stuff, but never anything super serious. Um. There's been a few times where he's done stuff that's made me a little uncomfortable, and we've had a talk about it, but neither of us ever really react to stuff with hostility like you or G tend to. Not that the two of you aren't perfectly valid--I just get, like, very stressed and upset if anyone is too aggressive with me, so talking things out with a lot of hugging and kissing in between tends to be the preferable route when dealing with conflict, at least in my relationship."

"That sounds like an ideal relationship," She mutters. "I kind of like the fighting, because the making up is always worth it to me, but sometimes I could totally do without it, y'know?"

Josh nods, and hands her the box he's just finished putting a shipping label onto, and tells her that instead of pacing, she can make herself useful by _gently_ setting the box down next to a stack of other boxes near the entrance into the backroom. "That doesn't sound healthy, but if it works for you, then whatever, I guess."

"We are two very different people, to be fair," She reminds him as she walks back over to the counter. "How many more of these orders do you have to do, anyways? You've been at this for, like, ten years now."

"Two hours, and..." Josh looks at his check list, and counts to himself under his breath as he reads through it. "A hundred and twenty seven to go. Uh. I usually wouldn't be doing this alone, as you know, but that girl omega that I hired awhile back--she's out for the week. Said something about a _heat,_ so I didn't question her and told her not to worry about it."

"Fair enough, I guess," Ashley mumbles. "Get me out of my own shit. How are things with Tyler? Any new developments I should know about?"

"We might move in together." Josh has a small but goofy little grin on his face. He's excited about it. "My lease ends in June, so I brought the idea up, and he's alright with it. I mean, we're moving at a pace a _lot_ slower than a lot of couples do, so... I dunno. I figure it'd be an appropriate next step. We've met each other's families, and both of his parents like me, plus, both of my parents like him. Um. I don't think you've met him, but if you want to, I mean..." Josh points with his pen across the street. He can see Tyler talking to a customer of his own. "He's over there."

"I'm not nearly bold enough to march over there and try giving him a piece of my mind," Ashley assures him. "Wouldn't mind meeting him if the two of you are going to be taking that big of a step, though. He's still nice, right?"

"Oh, absolutely. I wouldn't be willing to fuckin' move in with him if he _wasn't_ nice. We've been talking, and I've been thinking, and honestly, Ash...? I kind of think he's, y'know... _It._ The one. Endgame. All of that mushy shit. It's just--the way he makes me feel, the things he says and how he acts, and how I act... My gut's telling me to grab onto him before someone else does. What do you think about the whole living together thing? I kind of wanted your opinion on it."

"I mean, I'm game, as long as he's good to you and isn't going to get weird about it. You've been dancing around potential mates for years now, so I'm honestly just glad to see that you've found your person, even if you're moving at the pace of two snails fucking when it comes to your relationship with him."

Josh snorts and rolls his eyes. "I have anxiety. Leave me be."

*

"There's one more thing I want to ask about," Josh mumbles before bending over to stick a plate into his dishwasher. He and Tyler were discussing Josh moving in with the alpha over dinner, and had gotten just about everything--every issue--out of the way, except for one that Josh knows full well that either of them are dancing around.

"What is it?" Tyler asks as he takes a bit of steel wool to a particularly tough spot on a plate.

"I feel like it's inappropriate to talk about, but if we're going to be living together, we _need_ to talk about it," he frets, voice a touch higher than usual.

"Are you... okay?" Tyler slows his scrubbing down considerably, looking at Josh with concern written all over his face. "If it's stressing you out bad enough that I can smell it, we can put it off a little longer...?"

"It's just..." Josh gnaws on his cheek, and places his hands on the counter, and lets his head drop between his shoulders for a few seconds before trying to continue. "I get really anxious when it comes to us and discussing stuff in regards to..."

"In regards to...?"

_"You know...?"_ Josh is trying his best not to verbally say it and Tyler knows it.

Tyler stands up a little straighter and sets the plate and the steel wool down in the sink before turning to face Josh. "Tell me." He's using a certain tone, a certain inflection that lets Josh know that although it wasn't a blatant _order,_ it's close to one, and it makes him whine like a child before spitting it out.

"What if we move in together and I--I have a _heat_ and I'm not--I'm not _ready_ to do that stuff with you? Like, I'm due for one in a few weeks," Josh's voice starts wobbling and he starts gesturing with his hands a little bit as he continues speaking, "and after that, it'll be until July when I have one, and my lease is up in June, so by then I'll either still be here, or I'll have been living with you for a month at that point, and I just--"

"Okay, Josh, I don't want to interrupt you," Tyler starts as he steps closer to him. "But... I'm still sticking to my promise. If you're not ready for something, then we don't have to do anything. I can just as easily make myself scarce for a week or two. I have friends and family I could stay with and I have enough in savings that I'm sure I could spring for a hotel room if it were that dire. On that note, though... I think we should have a serious conversation regarding mating and claiming each other. Like, an actual discussion where we talk and set boundaries or make plans, rather than blush and giggle like a couple of thirteen year olds getting the _talk."_

"What if I cry? I'm pretty damn close right now." Josh takes to biting the inside of his lip as he shifts back and forth, tears trying their best to well up in his eyes.

Tyler gestures to his neck. "I'm yours to scent, and I will absolutely hug you if you need me to. Also, I love you. I don't know if I've said it today."

*

They try _talking_ in a handful of spots around Josh's small apartment, before settling on curling up together, facing each other, in Josh's bed under a few blankets, a few _fluffy_ blankets. Josh has his feet, which are cold, on Tyler's legs, and Tyler has one arm under his own head and the other thrown over Josh's waist. "How do we have this conversation?" Josh asks, voice a little muffled by the blankets.

Tyler removes his arm from over Josh's waist long enough to tug the blankets from his face. "Well, first, you need to stop hiding," he tells him gently before moving his arm back to its spot around Josh's waist. "What do you want out of our relationship? Like... where do you want it to go? I think that's a better way of phrasing it."

"I feel weird talking about it because I'm afraid it's not reciprocated."

"Alright, well, under the assumption that your feelings are reciprocated--what do you want?"

"I want a life with you. Everything that comes with being in a long term relationship or whatever. A family? I guess? Just... I dunno." He shrugs and makes a face. "I want to get to a place to where we're both... _matedandclaimed,_ and I--I want _kids,_ and I want to take grossly mushy Christmas card photos with you and all of that stuff. That's all a journey that I want to go on, with you."

"Can I let you in on a little secret?"

Josh looks a little confused, but he nods.

"Your feelings are one hundred percent reciprocated. Trust me."

"How about you? I want to hear you say it. What do you want?"

"Like you... I want a life with you. A family, kids, picket fence--the whole nine yards. That's something that I would absolutely love to experience with you. I don't--I don't want to force you into that, or rush you, or move things faster than you're comfortable with, but... If you want that, and you'd like to give me the chance, I would seriously love, love, _love_ to go on some wild life journey with you. Like, man, I just want to make you as happy as I possibly can. You being happy is my number one goal."

Josh stretches his head forward to sneak in a tender kiss on the mouth, and Tyler kisses him back, and he's sure to tell the omega that he loves him. "I love you too, more than you can imagine. Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve you. You're seriously just, like... A dream. I never thought I'd be lucky enough to have someone in my life that I can love so much, and not be scared of, y'know? I never thought I'd be able to _trust_ someone like I trust you, and it's fucking terrifying but at the same time, it's so relieving. I don't even know why I have so many trust issues. I've never even been in any particularly unhealthy relationships, but..."

"Josh, man, your trust issues are valid. We've all heard horror stories of some of the heinous, fucked up shit alphas have done to omegas, and I don't blame you for having trust issues."

Josh nods, and slides his hand up Tyler's side. He can feel the warmth of the alpha's skin through the thin t-shirt he's wearing. "Back on topic, though. How are we going to handle the whole heat thing?"

"Our, ah... _Cycles,_ as one may call them, have lined up from what I've seen. You say you're due for a heat in a few weeks, and that's about how much time I have left before I'm due for a rut. If you want to go through the whole, uh, process of, like, knotting and claiming during the July one, I'm totally down and willing, but if you want to wait, that's totally alright too."

"I know you're super into planning things out in advance, but I feel like that might be something that we're going to have to deal with when it comes up." Josh scoots closer to Tyler, face burning up a little bit.

"Well, I don't want to make any _solid_ plans, but having a general idea of what we may or may not do, and having plans for either option is a good idea, even if they're vague plans. Also, keep in mind that I've never--I've never done anything with anyone during a heat or a rut. This is something we're both, uh... Not experienced with, y'know?"

"I keep forgetting that. Uh. Is it weird if the knowledge that you're also not experienced with that stuff makes me feel more comfortable with the idea?"

Tyler shakes his head, and kisses josh on the bridge of his nose. "Not at all. I don't think it's weird."

"Also--is it weird or embarrassing if talking about this stuff is giving me, like, a _raging_ boner?"

Tyler cackles a little bit, but shakes his head. "Nah, man. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hard either. Do you, uh... Want any help with it?" He raises an eyebrow, even if half of his face is smushed into his arm.

Josh bites his lip, and nods slowly, so Tyler moves his arm from around Josh's waist again, and goes to slide his hand down the front of his boyfriend's shorts as he kisses him, at least until Josh grabs his wrist and tugs it _back,_ mumbling, "Nuh-uh. Want your fingers in me," against Tyler's lips.

Tyler smirks. "I can do that. Roll over, facing away from me," he instructs him, nice and easy.

Josh listens, and by the time Tyler is tugging his shorts down to his thighs so he can have _easier access,_ Josh is mostly on his stomach with his face crammed into Tyler's bicep as the alpha starts prodding at his hole with one of his fingers. He starts with one finger and a kiss to the top of Josh's head, just as he always does, and a mumbled, "I love you," following it.

He starts talking to Josh as he's sliding in a second finger. "You're doing so good for me, sweetheart. I love all the little noises you're making, love knowing that I'm the one makin' you feel good."

Josh starts mouthing at the skin of Tyler's bicep, over one of his tattoos, sucking at the skin and occasionally nipping at it between soft moans and whines and gasps and quiet cuss words that slip out here and there.

Tyler's worked him up to three fingers, and Josh is curling his toes, knowing he's only a minute or two off from an orgasm when he blurts out, "I want you fuck me," just as the alpha has slid in a fourth finger, his pinkie.

Tyler's slow about pulling his fingers out of Josh, not wanting to hurt him, and he's gentle about rolling him onto his back so that he can look him in the eyes. "Pardon?"

Josh looks nervous but excited and eager as he nods. "You heard me. I think--I think I'm ready. We've talked about it and I just--I'm ready. I want it."

"Why _now?_ I mean--I'm down, but..."

"It's just... We had that _talk,_ and now I feel--I feel close to you, and I wanna feel _closer_ to you, and--and I mean, if I say stop, I know you'll stop, so...? Why not? It's something that we're going to do eventually anyways, and I just feel like now... I feel like now is a good time."

"Are you _sure?"_

"More than anything, yes. I trust you." Josh reaches up, and pulls Tyler into a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too, but... Seriously. Are you _sure_ about this? Are you sure you don't want to wait, or give me a chance to pull a romantic gesture out of my ass or anything? I don't--I don't want to do this with you, and have you regret it, or for me not to live up to your expectations or something. I know I act confident, but I'm, like, kind of super fucking nervous too, man. I don't wanna hurt you."

Josh scoots and uses one of his legs to get Tyler on top of him, his hips slotted between the omega's legs. "We don't need all of the fanfare for it to be special. Also, man, I'm not looking for the fuck of my life. I don't want you to _fuck_ me. Sure, I want it to feel good, and I don't want you to hurt me or anything like that, but... I just... This is something I wanna share with you, and only you. I want you to feel good too, and I want you to come away from it feeling good about yourself and our relationship too. If _you_ don't want to, that's fine--"

"--I do, Josh, I _really_ do." Tyler sighs, and his face drops down so that he can scent Josh's neck, and mouth at it a little bit. Josh runs his fingers through Tyler's hair, and cranes his head back a little bit, silently showing his submission. Tyler sighs again, and props himself up on his elbows to look down at Josh.

Tyler's eyelashes are a little wet, and Josh gives him a little half smile. "Are you crying?"

"Maybe a little bit. I just, like, _really_ love you, and it's hitting me just how _much_ I love you."

Josh pinches the material of Tyler's sweatpants between two of his toes on one of his feet, and tugs the pants down, until he can use his foot to shove the pants down to Tyler's ankles. Tyler moves himself until he's kicking his sweatpants off of his long legs and off the bed. "I love you too, Tyler."

Josh reaches down between either of them, until his fingers are wrapping around Tyler's cock. Josh isn't at all surprised to feel how hard Tyler is, and he feels his heart in his throat as he's stroking him a few times, before lining his cock up with his hole, which is slick and loose, waiting for _something_ to fill it.

He looks up at Tyler, and makes eye contact with him. Tyler's pupils are blown, and Josh can barely see his irises. "One more time--are you sure?"

Josh nods. "Yes, _alpha,_ I'm sure." He also smirks at the way Tyler's face hardens.

"Stop that."

"You don't like it when I call you that?" Josh teases as Tyler's reaching down to take a hold of his own cock, pressing in just a little bit, which is still enough to make Josh suck in a breath.

"No, don't get me wrong, _omega,"_ he starts saying as he's dipping his head down, again, to kiss the corner of Josh's jaw, "I _love_ it," he presses in a few inches further as he continues, "but you're really making me want to flip you over, and _take_ you."

Josh whines a little bit, in a good way, as he spreads his thighs further apart, unintentionally presenting himself to the alpha as he's bottoming out.

Tyler loses the tone when he asks, "Are you okay?" He doesn't start moving, not yet, but he adjusts his position a little bit so he can prepare to start moving.

Josh's hands move from Tyler's upper back, down to his waist, then to his hips, and he squeezes a little bit as he vocalizes his answer. "I'm okay, Tyler. You can keep goin'."

Josh isn't too sure what he was expecting sex with Tyler to be like, but this is better than he could've hoped for. Tyler's not going too slow, but he's not going too fast either, and he lets his hands wander, cupping around Josh's hips and thighs, sometimes caressing his cheeks as they kiss and Josh swears he's never felt more loved by anyone.

Tyler mutters praise into his ear, tells him that he's doing so good for him, that he's such a sweet little omega, that he deserves the world, that he _feels_ so good, and all the praise makes Josh want to cry because it's just so fucking _sweet._ He talks back, of course, tells Tyler that he loves him about a thousand times, babbles a little bit here and there and makes the cutest, softest little noises as Tyler's cock brushes against his prostate repeatedly, drawing Josh closer and closer to the edge.

Neither of them last particularly long after Josh starts saying, "Ah, _fuck,_ Tyler--I'm gonna--I'm gonna come-- _fuck."_

Tyler encourages him, tells him that he's _allowed,_ and the feeling of Josh clenching around him as the omega rolls his hips onto the alpha's cock is enough to drive him over the precipice. His fingers are digging into Josh's hips as he fucks into him, riding out his orgasm.

Tyler tilts his head back, with his eyes closed, face turned up towards the ceiling, and Josh does the same as either of them are catching their breath. Tyler's the first to say anything. "That... was fucking amazing, and before you say anything, yes, it was well worth the wait."

Josh finds himself smiling a little dumbly as he opens his eyes, and looks up at Tyler. Tyler's hair is sticking up a little funny, since Josh had a death grip on it while they were getting down to business. "I know I've said it, like, a hundred times already, but I love you."

Tyler gives him a shy little grin before he pulls out, and lowers himself onto the bed next to josh, who just scoots over to him and cuddles on up into his side as Tyler's pulling one of the blankets up over them. "I love you too, Josh."

"We can cuddle for awhile, but I kind of want to take a bath or a shower or something, because although hot in the moment, the feeling of someone's load in my ass is a touch uncomfortable."

Tyler snorts, and mumbles, "Sorry about that," before holding Josh tight.

*

Josh figures that this is exactly what he deserves for putting off introducing Tyler to his best friend for so long.

He's on his knees in the break room of his humble bakery, and Tyler's sat in front of him on the couch, and he's just barely hooked one of his fingers into Tyler's belt buckle when the door flies open.

Josh's head snaps towards the door, as does Tyler's, and either of them are met with the sight of Ashley, who looks a mixture of mortified and thrilled. "Although I am absolutely disgusted to see my best friend in such a compromising position," she starts as she marches across the room (but not before closing the door with her foot), "I'm _thrilled_ to finally meet you, Tyler."

She sticks her hand out towards him, and Josh mutters, "I fucking hate you," as he stands up and uses his leg to nudge Tyler's thighs shut as he plops down on the couch next to him.

Tyler gives him a look, and mouths, "Be nice," at him before looking back at Ashley, and shaking her hand with a warm grin on his face. "The pleasure's all mine, truly."

"Sorry about interrupting your blow job, _but,"_ She turns to look at Josh, who is leaning into Tyler's side with a frown on his face as he looks back at her; "I got offered a _sweet_ promotion at work."

"How sweet?" Josh raises an eyebrow, and adjusts his position a bit as Tyler's arm gets thrown over his shoulders.

"Like, a five dollar raise plus way better benefits kind of sweet. _Which,_ by the way, is convenient for me." She makes herself at home on the floor, mumbling something about having a pebble in her boot as she gets to untying it.

"How is it convenient?" Tyler asks. He's curious, of course, and Josh kind of likes it, kind of likes that he seems to care.

"Does Josh not talk to you about me?"

"Uh, not really. All I know about you is that you're apparently very assertive, but otherwise he speaks very highly of you, and doesn't divulge your personal information to me."

"Loosen up, man." Ashley frowns and leans forward to get Josh in the knee with her knuckles. "Start gossiping more. It's okay."

"It's not my place to tell Tyler your personal information."

She rolls her eyes, calls him boring, teasingly of course, before explaining. "My mate and I--we've been together for a long ass time, and for the past like few years or so we've been trying, and obviously failing, to have kids, and all that good shit. Getting that big of a raise, plus better benefits, is just nice, because it means we're more prepared, I guess."

"Sorry to hear about your bad luck, _but,_ I think that's awesome that you got that promotion then. Damn." Tyler reaches down to offer her his fist, which she bumps hers again with little to no hesitation.

"By the way, Josh, I like him. He has my seal of approval."

*

Josh is helping his mother set the table in her dining room for a Mother's Day dinner when she asks, "How are things going with that alpha you've been seeing? Tyler, was it?"

"You've met him multiple times. Quit acting like you don't know his name," Josh mutters as he goes around the table, setting down butter knives next to plates. "They're going fine. Things are going _great_ , if I can be honest. We're, uh... kind of planning on moving in together within the next month...? My lease ends, and we're, like, at about that point in our relationship, so..." He shrugs, and keeps his gaze down as to not risk accidentally catching her eye.

"You're moving _in_ with him?!" She shouts, mostly out of shock, and Josh shushes her.

"Jesus, thanks, _CNN!_ Yes. I am. I was--I was gonna tell everyone, but I haven't found the right time, except for now, I guess. I mean, how, exactly, do I even break that news to everyone, y'know?"

*

"So, I blabbed and told my entire family we're moving in together," Josh mutters out as he's tugging a cigarette out of the crumpled pack that he keeps in his back pocket. He's standing on Tyler's patio, and Tyler's knelt down next to one of his flowerbeds, picking weeds and tending to the soil. He looks up at Josh for a moment, waiting for him to elaborate. "My mom asked me how me and you were doing, and I just... blurted it out. I mean, everyone's excited and all, and I don't even know why I was afraid to say anything, but... Y'know. I like working myself up and convincing myself that things are going to go wrong, even if there's no possibility of that."

"I'm glad your family had a good reaction to that."

Josh nods, and flicks ashes into the ashtray that Tyler keeps on the patio specifically for him. (Josh doesn't make a habit out of smoking, but he does like to indulge himself if he's had a particularly stressful day or week.) "Have you told your family yet?"

He nods. "Yeah. My parents are both thrilled, and as expected, Zack doesn't give a shit, but he's an asshole and in this household, we take his word with a grain of salt."

Josh snorts. "I've noticed that he's a little... Not exactly the nicest, yeah?"

"I mean, he's _nice,_ sometimes, but he just has a tendency to be a bit of a dick. I love him and all since he's my brother, but you know how it is." Tyler shrugs, and grunts as he tugs a particularly tough weed out of the flower bed. "My other brother, and my sister--both of them are excited. Fuckin... My sister, _god._ She jumped the gun as soon as I said anything, all like, _'When are you guys having kids?!'_ Like, probably not for a fuckin' while. Cool your jets."

"Oh, dude, both of my parents were grilling me on that. Unless it happens on accident, I personally don't have any plans or a strong desire to acquire any children, at least not for a few more years. Honestly, I think my parents just want grandchildren super bad, and since I'm the oldest and the only one of my siblings in a serious relationship at the moment, their sights are set on me."

"My parents were like that when I was with Jenna. Always breathin' down my neck. I think _they_ wanted me to have children more than I wanted to. Like, _shit--_ I was twenty two and in college. There's no way in fucking hell I was going to even think about having children, not without a stable income. They're more chill about it since my lovely brother has kids for them to focus on, though."

"I wish one of siblings would have kids, if only so my parents would crawl out of my ass." Josh rolls his eyes, and flicks ashes off of his cigarette again. "Whether or not I even want or _can_ have kids isn't really any of their business. Like... That's totally a personal thing. The kind of thing that only me or a partner are entitled to know, y'know?"

"I agree, man. It's safe to say that both of us come from families that overshare. It's not that I don't like talking about my life, or how I'm doing or _whatever,_ but it's really not bad to just... keep some shit to yourself. Like yeah, my relationship with you is doing great and I honestly couldn't be happier, and I'm so fucking excited to, like, _live_ with you, but _maybe_ draw the line at asking me super personal questions."

"Exactly!" Josh throws one of his arms up in the air. "I'm a little more private than you are from the sounds of it, and I'm not gonna lie, I do tell Ashley almost everything that happens between us, in detail, because she's my best friend and we talk about stuff already anyways, but maybe... Just _maybe..._ I want to keep my relationship private...? And keep some stuff between just you and me...? Fuck me for wanting that, I guess."

"I think in a few years, it'll get easier. Shit will be settled or whatever, and we won't be so new to the whole relationship thing."

*

Josh hasn't moved in almost six years, and he remembers how fucking tiring it can get when he's sitting on the floor in his living room, sorting through laundry baskets of his clothes while Tyler's going through his kitchen and wrapping up his dishes and silverware in newspaper and bubble wrap.

"Not gonna lie," Josh starts saying as he hauls one of the laundry baskets onto his coffee table to start sorting through it, setting aside things he wears regularly; "I could honestly go the rest of my life without moving again. I've lived here for just about six years, and my mind let me forget how annoying this shit is."

Tyler laughs a little bit. "I feel you, man. Just think--after we get everything packed and we get everything put where it needs to go, we can just, like, settle down into domestic bliss and not have to worry about moving for hopefully a very, _very_ long time."

"We still need to figure out what we're going to do about the mattress situation. I have one of the nesting kinds, and yours is just boring and flat. Yours is also bigger than mine, though, so... I dunno."

"I was honestly thinking we could just buy a new mattress...? Put your bed in one of the extra bedrooms, and put mine in a different one, then use the new one as, like, _our_ bed. I don't want a mattress with as big of a dip as yours has, and I know you don't care for my mattress since it's so flat, so maybe we can find one that's a compromise. Split the cost and shit."

Josh nibbles on the inside of his bottom lip as he nods, even if Tyler isn't looking at him since he's preoccupied with getting dishes properly wrapped. "I think that sounds fair, honestly. California king?"

"I'm not dropping fifteen hundred on a mattress that big, man."

Josh makes a face. _"Fiiine._ King?"

"That's more reasonable. We need to get something soft, too."

"Both of our mattresses are rocks, and I'm a gentle guy. I need something soft to sleep on."

"Honestly, me too, Josh."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ask and ye shall receive i guess

It takes a week of unpacking and dealing with moving companies until everything is finally settled and Josh can fucking _relax._ He's just finished putting the last of his silverware into Tyler's silverware drawer, and is letting out a pretty ferocious sigh as he closes it. _"Finally!_ Everything is _put the fuck away!"_ he shouts.

Josh is about halfway through the kitchen when he hears Tyler's feet stomping down the stairs, and hears the alpha shouting, "Not quite!" back at him.

Josh is confused, and has a frown on his face as he's entering the living room, at just about the same time Tyler is. His eyes widen and just about pop out of his skull when he sees that Tyler has a small black box in his hand, and he shouts, "No!" before Tyler can say or do anything.

"What?" It's Tyler's turn to look confused now. "What is there to say 'no' about?"

Josh points at his hand. "No."

Tyler looks at his hand, and he stares at it and the box for a few moments before realization dawns on him. "Oh, dude, _no._ I'm not doing that yet. Like, give me a few years to grow the balls to do it. Um. Mark got me a watch for my birthday last year, and the box is about the size of a key and I just thought it'd be funny to give you your key in the box. I am absolutely not proposing to you right now. Just, uh... giving you access to the house when I'm not here to unlock it for you."

"Oh, thank _god._ I genuinely thought you were going to do that for a moment." Josh hides his face in his hands, and mumbles, "You scared the shit out of me," into them.

Tyler walks over to him, and wraps his arms around him. "Trust me, dude, I wouldn't do that without talking to you about it first. Even if it's a path we're heading down, there's still a discussion to be had about it, yeah?"

Josh nods, and wraps his own arms around Tyler's torso. "I didn't think unpacking and moving shit around was going to be so stressful, but now that we're, like, finally done with it... Basically, this hug is _much_ needed."

Tyler hugs him tighter. "At least I can give you hugs whenever I want now. Anyways... You wanna give me your keys? I'll put this on your key ring for you, if you want."

Josh nods, and makes a show out of detaching himself from Tyler, making it very obvious that he'd much rather continue hugging him. "They're in the basket next to the door."

"Sweet. One more thing." Tyler holds up a finger.

"What?"

"Gimme a kiss."

Josh kisses his cheek. "How's that?"

"Nah, man. On the lips."

Josh rolls his eyes, but he indulges him anyways. "Is that better?"

"Hell yes."

*

The first Saturday after moving in with Tyler (and after getting everything unpacked), while the alpha is out running a few errands, Josh fumbles around the kitchen, putting together a cake, since he's bored and a little stressed and since Jenna had oh-so politely put in a request for a cake, along with a hundred dollar bill. Josh isn't exactly poor, but he'll still do just about anything for a hundred dollar bill.

He's folding together cake batter when he sees his phone light up, and a text notification from Ashley, one reading, _"yoshua you really gotta gimme ur address,"_ pop up at the top of his notifications. Another shows up a few minutes later.

_"need to get down to some omegay business."_

_"wait, that looks like im implying something gay."_

_"not that we aren't both very gay in our own rights."_

_"omega-y? point is i got some news >:) txt me ur address cutie xx."_

Josh rolls his eyes, and waits until he finishes folding together the cake batter to answer her with Tyler's--or _their_ address.

By the time someone's knocking on the door, Josh is setting a cake pan down on a wire cooling rack, and once he has his oven mitts off and the oven door closed, he speed walks from the kitchen, through the living room, and through the foyer to look through the peep hole and to open the door once he sees that it's Ashley.

The first thing she does is sneeze, and say, "Oh, Jesus _fuck._ How do you stand living here? All the pollen, plus Tyler's stinky alpha scent..."

"How do you stand living with Gerald?" Josh counters as he grabs her arm and tugs her inside, so he can close and lock the door behind her.

"That's fair, but still." She makes a face. "So, uh... Sweet digs."

"Yes. It's a nice house."

"Is he rich, or...?" She's raising an eyebrow, nice and slow, obviously a little confused.

"Not at all. Uh." Josh scratches the side of his face as he thinks of how to phrase it. "His grandpa died a few years ago, left him his house, so Tyler moved in rather than sell it. I figure it should be creepy, that we're living in his grandparents' home, but they're dead and I never met them, so..." He shrugs.

"A little creepy, but it's cool, I guess."

"Yeah. Uh. You want a tour, or...?"

"News first, tour later."

"Alright. What's the news?"

Ashley stands up on her toes, and peeks around Josh, and once her eyes are set on the couch, she drags him there, saying that he's going to want to be sitting. She kicks her shoes off as she sits down on the couch, so she can tuck her legs under herself, and Josh subconsciously mirrors her position.

"Why do I need to be sitting?"

"Because..." She bites her bottom lip, trying not to smile, as she gently breaks the news to him. She takes one of his hands, and holds it in both of hers, as she says, "I'm pregnant."

It takes ten seconds or so for the words to process in Josh's brain, and for him to react. "No way! Are you _serious?"_

She grins wider than Josh thinks he's ever seen her grin, and nods rapidly. "You're the first person I'm telling, aside from my own partner."

Josh doesn't have any words, but, apparently, he has plenty of _tears,_ and he's able to get out, "I'm _so_ fucking happy for you," before he's yanking her into a hug and holding her tight.

She laughs, and they wind up laughing and crying together about it.

*

Ashley winds up having to leave after an hour of her and Josh gushing over the _news_ together, and Josh is in the kitchen again, evening out either of his cakes when Tyler gets home.

A smile spreads across Josh's face when he feels arms wrapping around his waist, and Tyler kissing up his neck. "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon to you, Tyler," Josh responds as he's dropping cake shavings into a bowl.

"Was someone else here?"

"Uh, yeah. Ashley dropped by for like an hour. Um. Dunno if that's okay with you, but she's probably going to show up randomly. I'm used to it, since I've been friends with her for years, but... Yeah."

"Mm, it's fine. Jenna and Mark do it to me." Josh feels Tyler shrug before the alpha rests his chin on his shoulder. "Can I ask why she was here?"

"To hang out, mostly. Also... She's pregnant."

Tyler stands up straight, and when Josh gets a look at his face, he sees that he's grinning. "No shit?"

"No shit, man. Not gonna lie, I think I cried for a good twenty minutes when she told me. She's been trying and struggling for a few years now, and I've watched how upset it's made her, so hearing that, like, _finally_ she's been successful with it made me super happy." He's smiling, even now, and he accepts a kiss on the mouth from Tyler.

"Tell her that I'm happy for her the next time you see her. Anyways, uh, not to change the subject, but... What do you even do with extra cake like that?" Tyler points to the bowl containing chocolate cake shavings.

"Oh! Usually I freeze it, and use it for, like, cake pops, or ice cream cake. Jenna slipped me a hundred and asked me to make her my favorite cake, so... Figured I'd do it. I could always use the hundred. What were you doing today? You said you had a few errands." Josh turns back to the counter completely, so he can get started on evening out the other cake. (His favorite cake happens to be chocolate cake with mint frosting, garnished with coconut shavings and chocolate chips.)

"Eh, nothing major." Tyler waves one of his hands, and turns so he can lift himself onto the counter, next to where Josh is working. "Had to go to home depot to get another pair of gardening gloves. Dropped by someones house, too, because they had some flytraps that they couldn't take care of, and someone mentioned that I happen to have some." He gestures towards his flytraps, which are in the windowsill above his sink still. "They aren't hard to take care of. Feed them once a week if it's too cold to set them outside, and water them occasionally. Anyways, point is--I have _more_ now, I guess." He rolls his eyes a little bit.

"I think they're kind of cute, the flytraps. I know they're plants, but..."

"But nothing, man. They're fucking adorable. Like, I'm totally with you there."

"Oh, hey, can I ask something?"

"Hit me."

"How do you feel about me poaching some of the mint that you have growing in the greenhouse...? I need to make a mint frosting for this, and if at all possible, I prefer using homemade mint extract rather than store bought extract. I was also snooping and saw that you were growing some, so... Y'know. If you're not alright with it, it's totally cool. Just thought I'd ask."

"Oh, dude go for it. I grow most of my own spices and herbs anyways. Just don't, like, use up a ton of it, but if you want to use some, feel free."

*

Josh remains oblivious as he's walking into Jenna and Mark's condo carrying the cake she'd paid him to make. He's gentle about placing it onto their dining table, and he doesn't raise his eyebrows or question her when she requests that he and Tyler go out and buy a bottle of champagne from a liquor store on the other side of the city.

He does raise eyebrows at Tyler's behavior, because he seems a little excited and giddy, but he still doesn't question him, at least not until the two of them are walking back into Jenna and Mark's condo, and Tyler keeps his hands over Josh's eyes.

Josh doesn't fully realize what's happening until he's being sat down in a chair, and Tyler's removing his hands from his eyes, and there's people shouting, _"Happy birthday!"_ at him and as a cake-- _the cake_ Jenna had paid him to make--is being slid across the table, with two candles, a two and an eight, poked into it, lit.

Josh jumps from being yelled at, and asks, "What the fuck?" as he looks around at the excited faces of both _his_ family and Tyler's family, Jenna, Mark, Tyler (of course), Ashley and her mate, plus a few of his other friends. "Why is scaring the _shit_ out of me so necessary?"

"Just blow out the candles, you sack," is the only answer Josh gets, and it comes from his brother.

*

It's a solid birthday party, Josh thinks. His family and Tyler's family seem to get along, and he may or may not be touched by the fact that despite not really even being that close to him, Jenna went out of her way to throw a surprise party for him.

"I still don't, like... _Get it,"_ Josh mumbles when he's home for the night and he's going through Tyler's side of the closet, looking for one of his oversized shirts to sleep in. "My birthday isn't until Tuesday anyways, and, like... She hardly knows me. I don't get why she threw me a birthday party like that."

"You're her friend," Tyler tells him, as if it were that simple, while he sits in bed, waiting for Josh to finish getting changed. "You're also... Y'know. My mate. Or... will be, hopefully in the near future. I also had a hand in this, of course, but, like... a lot of it was her idea, because I'm kind of stupid and bad at planning parties, and man--everyone deserves to have a good birthday, even if you don't actually turn twenty eight for a few more days."

"No one's ever really, like... done anything like that for my birthday. I know I get overwhelmed and cry whenever anyone does anything nice for me, but, like... I kind of want to cry. Every year it's just... Maybe I go over to my parents' house, and maybe Ashley gets me something small if she can afford it, or we go out and get drunk, which we can't even do since she's with child at the moment. I think the last surprise party I had was when I was, what... _Seven?_ It's literally been twenty years."

"You're not upset about it, are you?"

Josh shakes his head rapidly. "Dude, no, not at all. I'm just incredibly touched."

"Okay, good. Look... It's not a big deal. Or, well... Maybe it is. I dunno. If at all possible, I _will_ go out of my way, and so will Jenna, just to make sure you have good birthdays and holidays."

"Okay, seriously, stop, or I _will_ cry." Josh turns around now. He's finally in a t-shirt, one of Tyler's, and his underwear, and he's walking towards the bed. "Let's change the topic to something that's not going to make me cry."

"Alright." Tyler pulls the blankets back, and once Josh is next to him, he reaches over him to turn the lamp off. It's become somewhat of a tradition for them to lay there chatting with each other until they fall asleep. "Ashley's scent has changed. It's... softer, somehow."

"Yeah. She said it was, like, something to do with her hormones, or whatever. Her scent changed when she was claimed, and now it's changing again as she gets, like, more and more pregnant, or whatever. You're right, though. It's definitely softer. It's a mom smell. That's what it's been reminding me of. Like... early childhood."

"Dude... exactly. Shit. You're right. Except... For me, it's more of a _dad_ smell."

"Right, right. I forgot about your dad." Josh turns onto his side, and lifts his arm up as Tyler's arm slides over his waist, and as the alpha scoots up behind him to spoon him. "Sorry if this is weird, but every time I'm around someone who's expecting, I'm like, _god,_ I want that to be me. It's stupid--"

"No it's not." Tyler's shaking his head. "I don't think it's stupid."

"Well, still. Kids take a lot of planning and shit so I know it can't happen overnight or anything, and I don't think I necessarily even want them any time soon, but... Y'know. I still _do_ want them eventually."

"Totally understandable." Tyler slots one of his legs between Josh's, and he's absolutely not subtle about the way he keeps his hand on Josh's lower abdomen. "Whenever you wanna talk about the whole kid thing, lemme know."

Josh snorts, and rolls his eyes. "Either touch my dick, or get your hand offa my stomach like that."

*

Josh is sitting at his desk in his bakery, jiggling his leg and spacing out as he tries mentally making making plans for what to do during his next heat, which is the third week of July. He's so spaced out, eyes unfocused and everything, that he doesn't even realize that the door to the room that doubles as his office and the break room had even opened, at least not until he feels a hand on his shoulder, and Debby, the nice omega that he'd hired back in December, asking, "Josh...? Are you... alright? Your scent is kind of..." She trails off and Josh sees her motioning with her hand out of the corner of his eye.

"Uh, shit, yeah, sorry." He sniffs, and waves his own hand around a bit. "I don't mean to be stinking the place up. Um. I needed to talk to you anyways, if you wanna take your break or something...?"

"That's what I was planning on doing, so that works out." She smiles a little bit, and walks around Josh's desk so she can take a seat on the couch. "What do you need to talk about?"

"I have a heat coming up in July, and similar to the last few times, I would _really_ appreciate if you could just... Man the shop until I get back. I can give you all the recipes and walk you through anything that you need me to, but... You know. You have Ashley's number too, so she can also answer any questions or whatever."

"Yeah, absolutely. I know the drill. Sorry if I'm, ah, overstepping my bounds, or breaking any workplace laws or whatever, but may I ask why your scent's all messed up? It's just that it's stressing me out too." She gnaws on the inside of her cheek and Josh gives her an apologetic look.

"It's alright. I'd worry about it more if we worked at some corporation, but... It's just this one bakery. Uh. I moved in with my partner recently, and we're sort of planning on _claiming_ each other during my heat in a few weeks, and I'm just a little apprehensive about it. Ash has been telling me not to worry about it, that it'll be fine, but I have an anxiety disorder, so naturally I'm going to stress about it."

"That's totally understandable, Josh. Speaking from personal experience... As long as you're sure that your partner's the right one, you'll be fine."

"Oh, he's definitely the one, trust me. You know that alpha that brings me flowers every week? It's him. He's, again, definitely the one. It's just the idea of permanence or whatever is kind of getting to me, even though it's what I've wanted all my life."

"I'm sure you don't need my vote of confidence, but again, you'll be just fine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [follow me on tumblr if u want](http://creion.tumblr.com/)


	8. Chapter 8

Day one of Josh's heat is sort of nice, he decides. It hasn't fully hit him, and neither has Tyler's rut, but he still wakes up to Tyler mouthing at his neck, and poking his fingertips into the top of Josh's underwear.

"Good morning to you too," is what Josh mumbles to him as he opens one eye to see the top of Tyler's head, which is freshly shaved.

"Your scent's changed," Tyler grumbles out tiredly. "Not a lot, but it's... different."

"Good or bad?"

"Definitely good, trust me. How are you feeling?"

"Tired, because I just woke up. A little sweaty, but I'm always like that during heats." He's mumbling still, and reaches up to run his fingers over Tyler's head. Tyler gets annoyed when anyone else rubs his head, but when Josh does it, he seems to melt into it. "Otherwise I feel fine. Calm, too."

"Mm, well... I don't think I'm far enough into my rut that I'm going to be popping any knots, so... How do you feel about morning sex and a shower?"

Josh doesn't answer him verbally, but he slowly rolls onto his stomach, and tugs his briefs down over his ass, and as Tyler's propping himself up behind him, Josh reaches for the bottle of lube on the nightstand, handing it to Tyler.

Tyler doesn't take too long to use his thumb to flip the cap of the bottle open, and to drizzle the lube over Josh's hole, and as Josh is settling the bottle back down on the nightstand, Tyler's gripping his cock in his hand, and is pressing into the omega below him.

*

Their shower ends up being a bath. Josh sits in front of Tyler, between his legs, and Tyler keeps his hands gentle as he washes Josh's back for him. "Josh, I love you," he reminds him.

"I love you too, Tyler," he mumbles back through a yawn. "You've never been around any omegas while they've been in, y'know... heats, right?"

"Nope. Why? Is there something I should know?"

"I don't think so...? I was just going to say that usually I'm, like, a lot more on edge than I am right now. Typically don't get a lot of sleep or eat or drink much during them." He shrugs, and stretches to pop his back. "It's definitely because you're with me this time around. You make me feel safe and shit, so my anxiety takes that to mean that I don't, in fact, have to feel like I'm constantly in danger."

"Your anxiety would be right. Although I'm slightly underweight and don't have much going on in terms of muscle, I will, in fact, fight tooth and nail to protect you."

"I don't think that's necessary right now, but I'll allow you to wash my back for me. How's that?"

"Sounds good," is what Tyler mumbles against Josh's shoulder when he leans forward to kiss it.

*

Josh and Tyler both are just a little feverish and lethargic for the rest of the day, which they spend going between getting each other off and watching reruns of _Keeping Up WithThe Kardashians._ They fall asleep around ten that night, which is about when they fall asleep every night.

Tyler's the first to wake the next morning, and it's because Josh is squirming a little bit in his sleep and moaning gently, mumbling nonsense that Tyler can't quite make out. He tries going back to sleep, he does, but after catching a nose full of the omega's pheromones, which are heavy and sweet and drenched in arousal, he finds himself reaching over to nudge Josh awake.

Josh wakes with a start, and whines before reaching behind himself to smack at Tyler's hand. "C'mon, man. I was getting fucked _real_ good in my dream. Why'd you ruin it?" His griping holds no water, and it makes Tyler smile a little bit.

"Why not let _me_ fuck you good?"

"You were, in my dream."

Tyler snorts, and rolls onto his side, scooting until he's pressed against Josh. "Why not in real life?"

"I never said we _couldn't,_ but, man... You were really takin' me to pound town in my dream."

Tyler huffs, and slips his hand into Josh's briefs, wrapping his fingers around the omega's cock, which is hard and leaking just a little bit, stroking slowly. "Your scent's a fuck of a lot more intense this morning," he mumbles into his neck.

"In all fairness, I think my heat's hitting me faster than it usually does, probably since you're with me. I'm not a scientist, but I'm sure it has something to do with all the pheromones. Your scent... It's pretty freakin' intense too."

"My rut's also hitting me a lot harder than it usually does..." Tyler trails off, so that he can suck a hickey into the side of Josh's neck as he works him in his fist, and also as he grinds his own hips against one of Josh's ass cheeks. "Really wanna fuck you, but I can't guarantee that, one, I'm gonna be able to stop myself from knotting you, and, two, I can't guarantee that I _won't_ bite you."

"My dream was about you claiming and knotting me, so, I mean... If I'm _dreaming_ about it, then maybe that's a sign that you should." Josh looks over his shoulder at Tyler, eyebrows slightly raised, and cheeks dusted a rosy red. "Only if you want to, of course."

Tyler leans forward to capture Josh's lips in a kiss before he answers him. "That sounds like a nice concept, but, like... Claiming is a pretty permanent thing."

"I know. If you're getting cold feet, we don't gotta do it today, or even this week at all, it's just... we've been talking about it for a few months now, and... I'm ready. I wanna do it." Josh reaches down to tug Tyler's hand out of his briefs, even if he's enjoying the handjob thoroughly, and rolls over to face him, hips pressed against his, of course, chest to chest.

"I'm more than ready, and I also want to do it, but... I want _you_ to be _sure_ that you want to do it, because I don't want us to claim each other and have you wind up regretting it, or getting cold feet--"

Josh cuts him off with a kiss and a roll of his eyes. "Tyler, I appreciate the concern, like-- _trust me, I do--_ but I'm _sure._ I'm twenty eight, and you turn thirty in December. We're both more than old enough to be claimed. We've also been courting each other for exactly a year now, and we've been talking about this since April. I think we're ready." He kisses Tyler again, slower this time. "Seriously, though, if you're not ready or you don't wanna right now, it's alright. I'm not gonna be mad or upset."

Tyler kisses him back, and as he's nudging Josh onto his back, he mumbles, "I'm ready," against his lips.

Josh slides his underwear off, and Tyler stumbles a bit and may or may not fall on top of Josh as he's trying to take his own off. Josh grunts, and laughs out a, "Jesus, be careful," as Tyler breaks into a fit of his own giggles.

"Of course, the first fucking thing I do is fall on you."

"I'd much rather you'd fall _for_ me," Josh tells him, nice and cheeky, giving Tyler a shit-eating little grin when the alpha props himself up to make eye contact with him.

"I totally would, except, like... I've sort of already done that."

Josh's shit-eating grin turns into a full grin. "Just get down here and kiss me, man."

*

More than anything, and outside of his own sexual fantasies, Josh expected the feeling of being _claimed_ and _knotted_ to hurt.

It doesn't hurt. Tyler's gentle with him, fucks him nice and slow, only going faster when Josh asks him to. His teeth sink into Josh's neck, right over the scent glands on the left side of his neck, and yeah it hurts a _little bit,_ but Josh kind of likes it, and the fact that Tyler's knot and cum is filling him, plus his own orgasm hitting him makes it feel pretty fucking great.

Josh's orgasm comes to pass fairly quick, at least compared to Tyler's, and once Tyler's removing his mouth from Josh's neck, the omega moves his (Tyler's) head up, so he can latch onto the alpha's neck. Tyler lets out a whine that turns into a soft moan, and clenches his fists next to Josh's head as he thrusts his knot deeper into the omega.

Tyler pretty much collapses onto Josh as soon as he's removing his mouth from his neck, and Josh holds into him, running his fingers over the back of his head, asking, "You okay, Ty?" before running his tongue across his canines and swallowing.

"I'm good, real good," he assures him. "My brain just sort of feels like TV static, but in a good way, if that's--if that's possible. Also, next time we do this, you need to be facing away from me, because this is, like, sort of uncomfortable."

Josh snorts. "We just _bit_ each other, and that's what you're focusing on?"

Tyler nods, nice and slow. "Yes. We're gonna be stuck like this until Tyler Junior decides he's done, and if I'm being honest, I could go for a nap, but I dunno if I can sleep like this."

"You can try if you want. I won't be mad if you sleep on me, bro." Josh keeps his fingers gentle as he trails them up and down Tyler's back, firm enough as to not tickle him.

*

Josh's heat and Tyler's rut had started on a Saturday, which is why he's surprised when he wakes up on Thursday to find that his heat is tapering off a few days earlier than he'd expected it to. Tyler seems to wake up feeling the same way, and neither of them really question it more than necessary, aside from laughing it off, because it happens--sometimes heats or ruts end early, and either of them figure it's because it hit them faster than it usually does in the first place. On the upside, it does leave them with a few more days free than they'd planned for.

*

Josh half listens to Ashley as she gushes about how his scent has changed, about how he sort of smells like Tyler, but still himself, and about how happy she is for him. He appreciates her enthusiasm, but it's nine in the morning, he's more tired than he usually is this early, and he's also in the middle of pulling a few loaves of zucchini bread out of one of the ovens in his bakery.

He gets the last loaf of the bread sat down onto the counter, and as the smell of it wafts into his nose, he gags, and the back of his hand flies up to cover his mouth and nose.

He doesn't see it, but Ashley raises her eyebrows at him before saying, "You're acting like I did before I found out that I was pregnant."

Josh recovers from his queasiness pretty quick, and rolls his eyes as hard as he can at her. "I'm not fucking _pregnant._ Don't you have a job to be at?"

"Yeah, in, like, three hours. Anyways, I was just teasing, so cool your jets." She rolls her eyes. "Should you be cooking if you're sick?"

"I'm not sick. Sometimes all the smells overwhelm me. Don't read into it." Josh has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from gagging again as he's poking toothpicks into each loaf of the bread, making sure they're all done. "How's being pregnant going?" He asks as he's throwing away his toothpicks on the other side of the kitchen.

"Better than it was. My morning sickness is starting to get a little better, thank fucking _god._ Do you know how many times I've _vommed_ at work?" She shudders. "I've also almost thrown up on G a few times. Speaking of him--surprisingly enough, he's had the patience of a fucking _saint._ Like, I'm having pregnancy mood swings on top of the whole bipolar thing, and he's honestly been a sweetheart. How are things going in your neck of the woods? How's post-claim domestic bliss treating you?"

"It's been barely two weeks, Ashley," Josh deadpans. "I think it's going good, though. It doesn't feel that different, really." He shrugs. "I feel a lot closer to Tyler now, and I'm able to smell him from a lot further than I used to be able to, which... I think is normal...? It's normal to be able to be more sensitive to your mate's scent, right?

She nods. "Yeah. It is."

"I've _also_ been baking at home a little more, and sort of forcing Tyler to eat more than he used to. Sometimes he just... doesn't eat. It's why he's so skinny." Josh shakes his head. "To be fair, he can't cook for shit, but I find it fulfilling to make sure he's fed and taken care of, even more so now that we're officially mates."

"You know what? Good. That boy needs to eat more, and I'm glad you've been feeding him."

"You'd think I was into that weird fetish or whatever where people feed their partner until they're, like, grossly, morbidly obese, and they get off to it, at least with as much as I try forcing Tyler to eat," Josh jokes as he's turning the knob on the front of the oven, turning the heat off, since he doesn't need to use it again for a few hours.

Ashley snorts and shakes her head.

*

In bed that same night, after Josh's little gagging episode, he's more than ready to just _sleep,_ which is why he's wholly unimpressed when Tyler's hands start wandering. He lets it happen, at least until he feels one of the alpha's hands cupping his ass, which is when he reaches behind himself to bat Tyler's hand away, muttering, "Knock it off. I'm tired."

Tyler listens, of course, and moves his hand somewhere more appropriate, and they lay there in silence, until Tyler's asking, "Are you sick or something...?"

"I _just_ told you I'm tired." Josh sighs, and rotates his upper body to where he's sort of on his stomach.

Tyler's hand is on his upper back, and it remains there. "Alright. I'm sorry."

"Sorry for snapping," Josh mumbles. "I've been cranky all day."

"It's cool." Tyler lays down, part of his body on Josh's. "Love you."

"Love you too."

*

It hits Josh that he and Tyler are _actually, finally_ mates about a month after they claim each other. This is around the time they decide to break the news to Tyler's family that they're _officially_ mates. Tyler's parents and siblings all ask a bunch of weirdly invasive questions, which Josh was expecting, and after sharing a lovely dinner with Tyler's entire family, Josh stays behind in the kitchen to help with dishes, since he's the kind of guy who likes to do that.

Tyler manages to coax his mom out of the kitchen, acting all embarrassed since she keeps asking Josh questions, and since Tyler, for some reason, is still afraid of his parents embarrassing him in front of Josh. Josh thinks it's cute, so he doesn't say anything or really react, aside from shaking his head before going back to rinsing a plate.

Tyler's father stays in the kitchen though, which Josh doesn't mind. He's super nice, and Josh can honestly say that it's kind of like having a second dad without it feeling weird. He figures it's a good thing anyways that he gets along with Tyler's parents. He imagines it'd be awkward if he didn't.

"How's life treating you, Josh?" is what Tyler's father asks to start conversation as Josh is handing him a plate to put in the dishwasher.

"Oh, _y'know._ I'd say it's pretty alright," He starts, with a shrug, before reaching back into the sink to rinse off a few forks. "More than alright. I'm happy." He has a smile on his face.

"Well, that's good. I also see my son has put on a little weight."

"Of course. He doesn't eat nearly as much as he should, and I bake for a living, so I figure that I may as well feed him." Josh grins and laughs a little bit. "It's a two way street, though. Like, I make sure he eats and takes care of himself, and he does the same for me. There's a lot of love in our household, which, obviously, is ideal."

They continue talking as they do the dishes together, Josh being bashful as he talks about Tyler, and Tyler's dad making sure to get in some embarrassing stories of his own about his son, stories that make Josh laugh and keep mental reminders to bring up at a later point to tease his mate, and as they're about to part ways, Josh so he can go have a smoke, or at least sit on the patio for a minute to decompress, and Tyler's father, who's probably going to do whatever it is fifty year old men do in their spare time, they hug, and the older omega says, "I'm glad you're part of our family. You're a good kid."

 _This_ is when it hits Josh that, _oh,_ Tyler's, y'know, _his mate._

He manages to wait until he's outside to burst into tears.

He forgoes a cigarette, and instead sits with his head in his arms on the patio table, _crying,_ and he startles when the glass door is sliding open and quickly shutting.

He looks up to see that it's Tyler, and as soon as Tyler sees that Josh is crying, his expression jumps from vaguely pleasant to frowning and concerned. When he speaks, he uses that one tone everyone uses when they're trying not to upset someone. "Oh, _Josh..._ Are you alright?"

Josh scoots back in the chair that he's in, and shrugs. His chin wobbles as Tyler's grabbing onto his arm, and tugging him out of the chair. Josh doesn't hesitate before wrapping his arms around Tyler's torso, and cramming his face into his neck, inhaling and trying to calm himself down.

Tyler shushes him, and strokes the hair on the back of his head, trying to soothe him, telling him that he's alright and letting him know that he's loved. Eventually, Tyler tugs his mate away from him, and looks into his eyes with a sympathetic look on his face, and asks, "Josh, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

"I'm just _so happy,"_ is all Josh can get out before promptly bursting into tears again.

Tyler doesn't know how else to describe how he feels other than fucking _befuddled._

"Then why the hell are you crying?" Tyler's sweet, and reaches up to dab at Josh's cheeks with the sleeves of his sweatshirt.

"I don't fucking know. I'm just--I'm just _so_ in fucking love with you, and your dad--your dad said that he's glad I'm part of the family, and it like _hit me_ that, _oh,_ we're fucking _mates,_ and now I can't stop crying because I love you so much and I'm just so happy and incredibly lucky to be able to say that you're mine, and it's _stupid._ I can't _stop crying."_

Tyler gives him a relatively quick kiss on the lips before tugging him back into a hug, and holding him tight as he continues to console him. They stand there, hugging and sort of swaying back and forth for a good ten minutes or so (according to Josh's guesstimation) before he's done crying.

They do sit on the patio for awhile longer as well while Tyler makes _sure_ Josh is alright before either of them are going back inside, and Tyler fudges up an excuse for them to leave early, saying something about Josh not feeling well, and about himself being tired.

*

Josh is going between packaging orders from his online shop and eating banana slices with a toothpick near the cash register when the door to his bakery is opening. He looks up when he hears the bell, and when he sees that it's Tyler, carrying a bouquet including white gardenias and purple orchids, he smiles around a cheek of banana slice.

Tyler quirks an eyebrow at him, says 'hi' to Debby when she greets him on her way to put something away, and approaches the counter. He sets the flowers out of Josh's way, and after a minute or two of watching him, he slowly says, "You fucking _hate_ bananas."

"Oh, dude, I know," Josh tells him. "Like, I despise them. It takes everything in me not to throw up when I make banana bread usually, but I was standing in the kitchen earlier," he jabs his thumb towards the door to the kitchen in the bakery, "mixing together the batter for banana bread, and something just came over me, and I was like, _'You know_ _what_ _? A banana would be a perfect meal.'_ I really don't know what my deal is, but it's like... This is the best thing I've ever eaten."

"I think I'm going to need a few days to process this... revelation of yours. Are you okay?"

Josh shrugs. "Probably. I dunno. Taste buds can change, man."

Tyler shakes his head a little bit, and despite his own distaste for bananas, he smiles anyways. "I need to get back to work, because I got a wedding I need to do floral arrangements for, but I love you, even if you suddenly like bananas like some sort of heathen."

Josh rolls his eyes. "Don't patronize me. Love you too, though."

*

Josh likes to consider himself a morning person, and typically doesn't have a whole lot of difficulty getting up in the morning, but when Tyler nudges him awake after he doesn't wake up from their alarm, the last thing he wants to do is _get up._ In fact, all he really wants to do is just go back to sleep, and blow off work for the day. He can't do that, though, and after ten minutes of Josh pouting and whining and being borderline rude to Tyler, he finally allows the alpha to tug him out of the bed.

Tyler nudges him into the en suite, mumbling something about wanting to shower together, about how maybe it'd help Josh wake up, and Josh feels too exhausted to argue with him. He lifts his arms up when Tyler takes his shirt off for him, and lets out a yawn as he's stripping his own underwear off. He doesn't mean to be dramatic, but he does lean on the wall, with his face pressed into it, while Tyler turns the shower on, and while they wait for the water to get warm before getting in.

Tyler's kind enough to let Josh stand under the stream of warm water first, and even lets the omega lean on him, arms wrapped around his torso and forehead pressed into his shoulder. Tyler's tired too, and until he's a little more woken up, he lets it happen, with his own arms wrapped around Josh. Once he's more awake, though, he asks, "Are you okay, man? You're acting like you didn't get any sleep, even though you were dead to the world around ten."

Josh shrugs, and sighs before detaching himself from his mate. "If I can be honest with you, I have no idea why I'm so tired. I've been like this for a the past month and it's actually sort of annoying," he explains before holding his breath, and sticking his head into the water to get his hair wet.

He and Tyler trade spots shortly after, so that Tyler can have his own turn under the water. When Josh bends over a bit to grab his bottle of shampoo, Tyler reaches forward to cop a feel of his ass, which draws a soft snort from him.

When Josh is standing up straight again, Tyler takes the shampoo bottle from him, offering to wash his hair for him. Josh accepts the offer, and swears that he almost falls asleep standing up as Tyler's working his fingers through his hair, so gentle and tender. "I think one of the weirder things about being claimed is that I've gained weight," Tyler mumbles as he massages Josh's scalp.

Josh is basically purring from the feeling of Tyler's fingers, and he just nods in response. "Same, honestly. It's probably because we're both eating a little more. I mean, I've got me a little bit of chub, man." He reaches down to lightly pinch at his lower stomach, which Tyler laughs at.

"Me too. I need to do some sit ups and get ripped."

As they're turning around again, so Josh can stand under the water and rinse his hair out, he responds. "Don't get ripped. I like your lil' belly. It's cute."

"My fat is cute to you?"

"All of you is cute to me, Tyler."

"Aren't I supposed to be jacked, though? Alphas are usually muscular and shit, yet I have the physique of a pool noodle. Long and thin."

"If those stereotypes were true, you'd think that I'd be an alpha, but I'm not." Josh flexes one of his arms to prove his point. "I like your pool noodle physique. You don't need to be jacked to be hot, man. Also, _we're mates._ Do you really have to keep caring about your appearance?"

"I mean, _no,_ but if you like my pool noodle physique, I need to maintain that, man. Can't be eating all of those goodies you give me."

"Hate to break it to you, but I'd probably find you attractive no matter what you looked like. Fat? Burn victim? It doesn't matter. You'd _still_ be hot to me. Also, conditioner. Could you hand mine to me, please? The fried mess on my head won't survive the day without conditioner."

Tyler hands him his conditioner, and similar to when Josh was about to shampoo his own hair, Tyler takes over. "I think I feel the same about you. You could probably, like, dress up as Mr. Clean and I'd pop a hard on."

Josh starts giggling "Nah, man. Howie Mandell. Mr. Clean dresses too white for my tastes."

"Hey, Howie's cute. I'd honestly hit it." Tyler shrugs, and Josh laughs more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi  
> hmu on tumblr if yall want @ creion   
> also happy thanksgiving to yall who celebrate it


	9. Chapter 9

Josh finishes all of the important tasks that he can't shove off onto Debby, and while he's waiting for a batch of brownies to finish baking, he pretty much collapses onto the couch in his office-slash-break room. He feels so exhausted, so much so that the couch, which is sort of old and a little lumpy, feels like the most comfortable surface in the world.

He naps for an undetermined amount of time, like a baby, until there's a hand on his shoulder. When he forces his eyes open, Debby is looking down at him, concerned like she usually is when she pesters him, quietly asking, "Are you alright, Josh...? Do you need me to drive you home?"

Josh grunts, and pushes himself into a vertical position, and rubs at his eyes as he mumbles out, "What time is it?"

"... You've been in here sleeping for two hours. Um. I would've left you alone, but I'm kind of hungry and would like to take my break."

Josh's eyes widen when he hears how long he's been asleep, and he's about to jump up and run to the kitchen, but Debby seems to sense this, and places both of her hands on either of his shoulders, keeping him put.

"I took care of the brownies. Don't worry about it. Seriously, though. Do you need me to take you home or anything? If you're sick, you shouldn't be in here. Don't need to be giving your customers the flu."

Josh shakes his head. "No, no. I don't need you to take me home. I'm don't think I'm sick. I'm just, like, super tired." He stretches after she removes her hands from his shoulders, and yawns. "It's getting worse. You'd think I don't sleep--which I do! It's pretty much all I do when I'm not working."

"Maybe you're pregnant," She jokes.

Josh snorts and shakes his head, and is so sure of himself when he says, "I'm not pregnant."

"I'm just teasing."

*

"Did you gain weight at all after being claimed?" Josh asks curiously around a bite of a lemon bar. He's standing in Ashley's kitchen, picking at some of the pastries she keeps around, since he's hungry and doesn't want to just go buy his own food. (Of course, Ashley doesn't mind.)

"A little bit, yeah," she answers honestly from her spot in one of her bar stools, on the other side of the counter. "Not quite as much as you've been gaining, but I did gain about five pounds. Also, to be fair, you're five inches taller than me." She shrugs. "It's normal. Your hormones and shit change a little bit after being claimed, so it's not weird or whatever to gain weight."

"Tyler's been weird about it," he comments quietly.

Ashley huffs. "How so?"

"He just thinks I'm hot. I've been tired lately on top of it, and he's not helping, because every chance he gets he wants to fuck me."

"Woe is you," she drawls sarcastically. "I don't think I've gotten fucked good in... How long have I been pregnant?"

"Four months...? I think? You said it happened in May, so..." He shrugs, and breaks off another piece of the lemon flavored desert to pop into his mouth.

"Four months, Josh. Four months." She even holds up four fingers to emphasize it. "G's been taking on extra shifts, and working more days than he did, and I've also been working a little more lately too. Kids are expensive, and we're trying to prepare for it. Being an adult sucks sometimes, man. I need dick."

"Me and Tyler have both been putting money away, just in case, honestly. I mean, my bakery's been pretty much _booming_ with business, and Tyler's been getting more weddings and funerals thrown his way, so we're, uh... doing alright as far as savings go. We're trying to just get to a place to where just in case something happens, we're prepared. And by 'something,' I mean just in case I ever get knocked up, essentially."

Ashley nods, and she winds up pouting. "I wish we could both be pregnant at the same time, man. That would _so_ be an us thing to do--getting knocked up around the same time."

"When have we ever done anything at the same time?" Josh asks with a laugh. "We never do anything at the same time. It's more like, one of us does something, then both of us help the other cope with the aftermath, whether it be good or bad. I didn't even lose my v-card until _April._ You lost yours when we were, what, fourteen? You're miles ahead of me, dude. I probably won't have kids until yours is off to college at this rate."

"You're right, but still. We always get into situations, and I feel like both of us getting knocked up at the same time would be one of those situations. Also, I wouldn't mind bitching about morning sickness and all the other weird symptoms of pregnancy with someone who understood it. Though... The morning sickness isn't as bad as it was, since that's more of a first trimester thing usually. That isn't to say it doesn't still happen, though."

"Isn't it scary? Being pregnant? I don't know how I'd handle it, because it seems so scary, and like there's tons of pressure." Josh shudders. The idea spooks him just a bit.

"I mean, it's scary in the sense that in about five months, I'll have a screaming infant to care for, and a lifelong commitment to get ready for, but... I dunno. Physically, I'm kind of just here. Need to watch what I eat, and I can't smoke anymore or drink, which is better in the long run for my health, so I'm not complaining about it."

"What about giving birth? Isn't that supposed to... hurt? I mean--it'll be different for you than it would be for me, but... Still."

"Of fucking course it's going to hurt." She laughs at him. "I'm probably going to have to be shoving a melon sized infant through, like, a cherry sized hole, and I'm not looking forward to it, but I get a kid out of it, so..." She trails off, and clicks her fingernails against the counter. "It's really not as scary as you'd think it is, man. The whole concept is super intimidating, but so far, I've found that it's pretty rewarding."

*

"Your mom called me earlier," is what Tyler starts with as he's handing Josh a rubber spatula for him to use while stirring a pot of boxed pasta that either of them plan to share for dinner. "Wanted to know why you're airing her."

"I've been tired and busy," he mumbles back to him after thanking him for the spatula. "She wants to come over for dinner I think, and I was going to wait to answer her until this weekend when I have more energy or whatever. I'd love to have her over, but my family is so overbearing and overwhelming, especially when I'm as exhausted as I've been."

"Speaking of that... Are you depressed or something? Like, if you're depressed or whatever, I'm totally down to help you find a therapist or something. I read somewhere that sometimes omegas can get depressed after being claimed, and if you're--"

"Bro, I'm not depressed." Josh rolls his eyes. "I mean, I was diagnosed with depression however many years back, but I'm mostly recovered and I don't _feel_ depressed. I think it's just because work has been so insane lately, and I haven't been exercising like I used to. Plus, I also have a relationship to maintain on top of that, and a social life, and other adult responsibilities. I'll probably be fine in a few months once I'm more used to all these, like, life changes."

Tyler's careful about how he wraps his arms around Josh's waist, scooting on up behind him, and kissing the side of his neck affectionately. "If you ever need help shouldering any of that, I'm here for you."

Josh smiles. "I can't really reach you right now, but if I could, I'd kiss ya. I love you,"

*

Josh wears his nicest sweatshirt and his best pair of jeans, and he even goes so far as to slick his hair back a little bit on the evening he's expecting his parents over for dinner, which is a week after his mom had reached out to Tyler to ask him why Josh hadn't been answering her.

Tyler goes out of his way to dress up a tiny bit, wearing a flannel button down that's tucked into his own pair of nice jeans, and his hair actually done up with a bit of hairspray. (Either way, he gets Josh's seal of approval, which comes in the form of a few kisses on the lips.)

Josh's guts are tying themselves into knots, since his parents tend to make him a little nervous, due to the fact that he strives for their approval. (Of course, he gets it, but he worries despite that.) He feels as if he's about to throw up as he's walking into the foyer to answer the door, and he isn't even exaggerating. Of course, his nerves wash away and are replaced by vague annoyance when his father greets him by saying, "Marrying up I see?"

Tyler's nearby, on his way to the kitchen to make sure everything in there is in its place, and he pipes up to say, "He actually makes about twice as much money as I do, so if anything, _I'm_ marrying up. Gotta give credit where credit's due!" He exclaims the last part as he walks through the living room, raising his voice a tiny bit to make sure he's heard.

Josh snorts and shakes his head a tiny bit before inviting his parents inside, and taking his mother's coat from her, hanging it up on the coat rack, and politely instructing either of them to take their shoes off and line them up next to the door, with the rest of the shoes.

Tyler joins him when he gives his parents a tour of the house. They seem pleased and rather impressed with the place, because it's impeccably clean, thanks in part to Tyler and Josh, both of whom do their best to keep it clean, and the tour ends in the kitchen, which is where Josh reveals the entree of the night--lasagna with a side of garlic bread and wine for anyone interested, plus water or sparkling cider for anyone who isn't interested. (Tyler takes a glass of red wine, as does Josh's mother, whereas his father accepts a glass of sparkling cider, and something in Josh's gut tells him to have water.)

Josh gets everyone served, and he has about half of his own serving of lasagna cut into bite sized bits when his mother asks them about _kids._ Josh is the first to answer, and he tries his best to make it sound like he's not snapping. "Mom, I really don't mean to be rude, but can you back off when it comes to stuff like that? All of you, including his family, have spent the past seven or eight months _hounding_ us about when we were going to move in together, or claim each other and get it over with, because we aren't moving as fast as everyone would like us to, and each time I tell you--it'll happen when it happens, and, frankly, it's none of your business. Whether or not we want kids, or whether or not we can even _have_ them is something I'd like to keep to myself and not talk about with anyone but Tyler, since he's a second party in whether or not _kids_ are going to happen."

Tyler speaks next. "I sort of agree with him. Um. I really don't mean to butt heads, but I've told my own parents this, and my siblings, numerous times--although I'm fine with talking about that stuff with other people, he's not, and I want to respect that. Also... it's been two months since we claimed each other. Having kids isn't exactly our priority at the moment, and we sort of need time to prepare for that before we even think about it. Y'know, start saving up, convert one of the bedrooms into a nursery--shit--I mean, stuff like that."

Josh snorts at Tyler's little slip. "I mean, to be fair, we aren't _not_ trying to have kids, but we're not exactly trying either. Like I said, it'll happen when it happens, and I'll leave it at that."

Josh's mom quirks an eyebrow for a moment before making some sort of _face_ , which isn't exactly the reaction he was expecting out of her, but she still nods along and drops the subject. Josh finds it a little suspicious, but he doesn't question her, since he has another round of questions to answer. (For the most part, the four of them are just catching each other up with the going-ons of their everyday lives.)

*

It's a Friday night, which means Josh can justify riding Tyler into the mattress while they're in the middle of marathoning the new season of a show they both like as it's nearing midnight. Josh isn't going too fast, since he's pretty sure his thighs couldn't take it, and also since either of them are a little tired, especially after an evening of trying to impress Josh's parents.

"What the fuck is it lately with people asking us about _children?"_ Tyler mutters as he adjusts the pillows his head is on to make his neck a little more comfortable. He keeps his hands on Josh's hips after that, helping him _bounce._

"I don't know," Josh grunts out, "but it's getting fucking annoying. Like, we claimed each other, which apparently means we're supposed to immediately jump to trying to have children. If it happens then it happens, and we haven't-- _ah--_ haven't been the _safest,_ to be fair, but Jesus." Josh leans forward a bit, planting his hands on Tyler's chest to give himself a bit of leverage as his pace starts to quicken a bit, and as he clenches around the alpha's cock, purposefully trying to get him off. "I wouldn't _complain_ if we had a kid, honestly, but..."

 _"But,_ we're not specifically _trying_ to do that," Tyler finishes for him. "Also, _fuck,_ I love your ass so much."

"Yeah?" Josh smirks down at him. "Well, my ass loves you too."

*

Josh is piping black icing onto a pumpkin spice cupcake when he asks Debby, "How bad would you say your workload is?" some time in early October.

She's helping him with the cupcakes, of course, since she has an affinity for putting frosting on things, whereas Josh isn't _that_ great at it. "I'm allowed to be honest, right?"

"That's why I asked. I'm thinking of hiring another person, probably another omega, honestly, and wanted to see if, one, you'd be alright with it, and two, if it's actually necessary." He slides the cupcake he'd just finished piping icing onto to the side, and grabs one without frosting to start working on while he waits for her answer.

"On one hand, working here is very chill, and it's possibly the chillest working environment I've ever been in, but the actual amount of work I have to do is a little... It's a lot. I don't hate it, but it can get overwhelming sometimes, because there's so many orders, and so many things to cook, and then there's things to clean and package and if I may be truthful--I wouldn't mind having another set of hands to help out, maybe two. Not that I don't love working hard--"

"Debby, chill. You don't gotta cover your ass."

"Okay, cool. Um. I don't necessarily _care_ what you do, since it's your bakery, as long as I can still get forty hours a week, yeah?"

"You'll still get your forty hours, don't worry. Even with you working forty hours, and me working however many six times twelve is, things aren't getting done as fast as I'd like them to be, and--and that's, like, what my problem was last year. I couldn't man the ship alone any more, so I hired you, and I think it's about time to hire someone else, I guess."

"I think it's a good idea."

*

"I hate being a business owner," Josh mutters into the side of Tyler's neck. They're on the couch, cuddling and watching the evening news. Tyler has his arms around Josh, holding him, knowing that he's stressed.

"Tell me about it. Literally. Talk to me."

"I need to hire someone else. Me and Deb can't quite handle it anymore, and I want to make sure everything can be taken care of without either of us overworking ourselves. I need to hire someone, and I have to make sure that they're either an omega or a beta, because I don't want to work with an alpha that I don't know, and it's not... Don't be offended, but I don't want to put myself or Deborah in danger by hiring an alpha, and having that alpha turn out to be a piece of shit."

"I'm not offended. I think that's understandable."

"I mean, we're both claimed, but I've still heard too many horror stories to want to risk it."

"I do literally work right across the street from you anyways, so if you had any issues, I could totally come kick some ass."

"You and what muscle?" Josh mutters.

Tyler smacks his ass, ever so gently. "Watch it."

Josh smiles, and stretches up a little bit to kiss Tyler's jaw. "Sorry, _alpha."_

Tyler grunts.

"Anyways... it's just... a lot." Josh sighs and goes back to burrowing himself into Tyler's side. "On top of all that, I've been, like, borderline _sick_ for the past few months. Can I just actually get full on sick so I can be miserable for a week, then fine for another year? Please? Ugh."

"I'm sorry about that." Tyler reaches up to hold one of Josh's hands. "I wish you felt better."

"You and me both, man."


	10. Chapter 10

"Okay, Josh, I'm really not trying to be an asshole," Ashley starts, nice and quiet, in a tone that gives away that she's trying her best not to piss Josh off, or upset him in any way, after having spent the past ten minutes or so trying to console him as he sits on the floor in his kitchen, surrounded by spilled brownie batter, having what is possibly the worst anxiety attack she's ever seen him have in the time she's known him, which is nearing fifteen years at this point; "but... are you _sure_ you're not pregnant?"

Josh isn't a violent person, but he does stomp one of his feet on the ground as hard as he can before shouting, "I'm not _fucking_ pregnant--Jesus--can't you fucking people _drop it?"_

"I was just asking, because during my first trimester, I was hyper emotional and sick all the time--"

"I fucking _know_ why you're asking-- _stop!_ I'm _stressed!_ I don't even fucking _want_ kids right now!"

He hunches over a little more, clenching his hair in his fists, and Ashley, although typically rather patient with him, just sighs, and grabs her purse off of his dining table, saying, " _Fine_ , fuck you. _Don't_ listen to me," and marching through the lower level of the house, heading towards the front door, her shoes clicking on the hardwood in her wake.

She's barely entering the foyer when the door opens, and as soon as she makes eye contact with Tyler, she exclaims, "Great! You're finally back. He's _your_ mate-- _you_ deal him," and doesn't explain herself as she speed walks by him.

Tyler goes to ask her what the hell she's talking about, but just as he's caught a good smell of Josh's pheromones, which makes a wave of _protectiveness_ wash over him, the door slams shut behind him. He's fast about setting the grocery bags he'd been carrying down on the ground as he kicks his shoes off, before making his way to Josh, and asking, "What the hell was that about?" as he helps his mate up and off the floor. "Did something _happen,_ or...?"

Josh shakily explains that he was baking, because he was feeling _stressed_ and needed to cool off, but that his hand slipped when he went to pour the batter into the brownie pan, and that the bowl hit the floor, _shattered,_ brownie batter went everywhere, and that it was the breaking point for both him and the bowl, then he stutters his way through explaining his argument with Ashley, and why she stormed out, which was probably due to the fact that he yelled at her when he really didn't mean to or want to.

"I just feel all gross and stressed, and I just wanted to bake a fucking pan of brownies, but _no!_ I can't _fucking_ have that, apparently, and then Ashley just starts in on the same _fucking_ bullshit that everyone's been on lately, and I'm _sick of it!"_

"Okay, okay." Tyler takes his hand in his. "Why don't you go take a shower or something, y'know, calm down and get yourself cleaned off, and I'll take care of the mess, and after that we can talk about it, or do whatever you want. How does that sound?"

"No. _I_ made the mess, I should clean it," he mumbles out, trying to yank his hand from Tyler's grasp.

Tyler holds onto it, tight, and adjusts his tone a little bit as he continues, making it clear that it was an order, and not a request. "And you're _upset._ Go shower and calm down, and let me take care of the kitchen."

Josh whines a little bit, and wipes the back of his other hand over his eyes, before letting his head drop to signal his submission, and leaning forward until his head makes contact with Tyler's chest. Tyler hugs him, and assures him that he loves him, and that he's going to be just fine and not to worry about anything until after his shower.

*

Josh takes his time in the shower. He cranks the heat of the water up as high as he can stand it. It takes him forty five minutes to wash his hair, then to condition it, to wash his body and to shave his face again, mostly as an excuse to take up more time, then, finally, to brush his teeth. By the time he's stepping out of the shower, and grabbing his towel from the towel rack, he feels a fuck of a lot better than he did earlier.

He towels himself off, and once back in his and Tyler's bedroom, he changes into a pair of boxers and the biggest sweater he owns, then marches into the hall to grab a few extra blankets from the hall closet, just so he can pile them on to the two that are already onto the bed before he's burrowing himself into it. He glares at the side table, or at least what he can see if it from where his head is wedged between two pillows. He can feel anxiety bubbling up in his gut again, and can feel the warm heat of tears behind his eyes again by the time he hears Tyler's footsteps coming up the stairs.

The bedroom door creaks open, and Tyler's feet are quiet on the floor as he walks across the room. Josh isn't surprised when he feels the blankets opening up behind him, and Tyler getting into the bed, and pressing his front against Josh's back, holding his omega close to himself. "Are you okay?" His tone is quiet and softer and sympathetic. "Your scent is still a little..."

"I'll get over it," Josh tells him. His own tone is a little curt, giving away that he's very obviously _not_ okay.

"The kitchen is clean, and I got the groceries I bought put away. Oven's off, and your brownie pan is back where you usually put it. So... None of that should be a worry. Anyways... With that being said, do you wanna talk about it...?"

"It's just... I have a lot of shit on my plate right now. I always do around this time of year. I wanted to bake a some brownies because I have an anxiety disorder and baking is how I cope with it. I was already on edge, then I dropped that stupid bowl, and then Ashley had the _nerve_ to suggest that I might be fucking _pregnant."_

"You're not, right?"

Josh shakes his head. "I doubt it. It rarely happens the first time a couple spends a heat or a rut together, and every symptom I've had that could be pointing to that could be chalked up to it being flu season, or the fact that we're both recently claimed and mated, plus it's getting later in the year and it's always around September that I start getting a little more _sad,_ because of seasonal shit, so, _no,_ I don't think so."

"Just making sure. I wouldn't be mad if you were, by the way."

"I'm not."

"Alright." Tyler reaches up to tug the pillow on top of Josh's head away, if only so he can rest his own head without kinking his neck.

"I know I was being an asshole to her, but she hasn't--we haven't had a fight in at least a few years, not a bad one anyways, and I just really dislike when people _walk out_ like that instead of sticking around and letting me explain myself, or talking to me."

"That's understandable. Honestly... Why don't we just hang out tonight, maybe order a pizza or something, watch a show you like, and deal with this stuff tomorrow...? You haven't really had a night off, or a night specifically dedicated to relaxing since July, and it was only because of your heat and my rut. I think you deserve a night off."

"Can we lay here for awhile...? I just need awhile to decompress, and I like you here with me."

Tyler nods and kisses the back of his neck. "We can do that. I love you, by the way."

"I love you too."

*

It's the last week of October when Josh notices that somethings _off_ with his heat. He still has one, but it's nowhere _near_ as intense as it usually is, even with Tyler being in rut around him, and needing to knot him every few hours or so until his rut starts to taper off.

It's the day after the last day of Tyler's rut, and his weird half-heat that he starts hearing something reminiscent of the Kill Bill sirens going off in his brain. He's standing in the bathroom, brushing his teeth, and out of curiosity, he turns to the side, and eyeballs his stomach.

He lets go of the toothbrush, and as it clatters onto the counter, he mutters, _"Shit,"_ because that does _not_ look like a fat bump.

*

Josh works his shit out with Ashley, to put it simply, and as soon as she confirms that, no, she isn't mad at him anymore, and that she really wasn't in the first place, he offers to pick her up from her apartment the weekend after his latest heat, so they can go get shitty fast food, and catch up.

And also so Josh can ask her for advice.

He's picking the pickles off of a Big Mac, and handing them to her, since part of her whole pregnancy thing is that she suddenly enjoys pickles, when he asks, "So... I'm gonna be a man about this, and tuck my tail, but... On the off chance that I _am..._ with child, what would I do...?"

She's nice about it. She doesn't tease him or rub it in his face, or say, _'I told you so!'_ Instead, around the two pickles he'd handed her, she answers him. "Schedule an appointment with your doctor, and ask for a referral to an obstetrician that specifically works with male omegas, first and foremost. Probably invest in some prenatal vitamins if you _are,_ and tell Tyler about it."

Josh nods, and tries not to start tearing up just from the nerves as he asks, "Do you think you could hold my hand through it? I don't... Ashley, I'm not prepared for this." The look on his face is bordering on helpless. "If we would've planned this, I would've just gone to my doctor and done a bunch of weird fertility shit, and then _tried,_ but I'm not--I'm not prepared."

"Hey, hey, baby, don't cry." Ashley gives him a sympathetic look, and reaches over to place her hand on his cheek. "You'll be alright. How about we start with something smaller, yeah?"

"How?"

"They make over the counter tests, y'know." Her hand is on the back of his neck now, and Josh finds it soothing. She knows how to comfort him, and at this point, the feeling of her cold hands and acrylic nails are synonymous with safe. "Let's, like, go to Target and get a few different brands, go back to my apartment, kick Gerald out for the afternoon, and see what happens, alright?"

He sighs and nods along, and once she removes her hand from his neck, he takes a bite of his hamburger, just to occupy himself.

*

Josh winds up being out about ninety dollars after buying three over the counter pregnancy tests, meant specifically for male omegas, all varying in price. The cashier gives him a weird and slightly dirty look, and Ashley just glares right back at her, _daring_ her to do something, or to say something.

She holds Josh's hand as she's leading him out of the store, and she drives on the way back to her own apartment. She speaks in low tones to her own mate, and for once, he doesn't give Josh a vaguely dirty look before leaving the apartment. Instead, he looks a little surprised but sympathetic either way, and Josh is glad.

Once Josh hears the door shut, the first thing out of his mouth is, "What am I going to tell Tyler?"

"We aren't worrying about Tyler right now. First thing's first--hike your shirt up." She crosses her arms over her chest, and gives Josh a pointed look.

Josh grumbles a little bit as he lifts his t-shirt up.

She twirls her finger, and says, "Turn in a circle, slowly, and don't suck in."

Josh obeys her, and once he's facing her again, he asks, "What's the verdict?"

She's blunt about it, and says what she means. "Either you're knocked up, or you carry your fat weird. There's only one way to know for sure, though, so..." She steps over to her coffee table which is where the Target bag containing the tests was placed, and she picks it up, and holds it out to Josh. "Here you go."

Josh takes the bag, and peeks into it. "Which one should I do first?"

"The cheapest one, which would be..." She trails off as she eyeballs the back, before plucking one from it, and holding it up. "This one right here."

*

Josh winds up spending half an hour in the bathroom, reading the included pamphlet in the box three times before he finally _takes it._ The test itself looks pretty standard--the kind he's seen on TV every time there's a pregnancy scare for some pretty damsel in distress omega in a show, but he's sure there's _something_ different about it if it's marketed to male omegas.

He puts the cap back on the end of it once he's finished with it, and leaves it sitting face down on the counter before exiting Ashley's bathroom. She's on her couch, and she turns to look at him as he exits the hallway. "So? What did it say?"

"Gotta wait, like, five minutes," he mumbles.

"You were in my bathroom long enough for me to get through almost two episodes of a TV show--"

"--I was reading the directions, alright?"

She gives him a sympathetic look, and pats the spot next to her on the couch. Josh sits, of course, and lets her pull his head into her lap, which is where she runs her fingers through his hair for the next segment of the show she'd been watching.

"Are you excited at all?" She asks while the show is transitioning to a different scene.

Josh shakes his head. "No. I feel like I'm going to throw up, and I don't know if it's--if it's because-- _y'know--_ or what. I know this isn't supposed to be a bad situation, but I'm scared. I'm allowed to be scared, right?"

"Absolutely, sweetie. I totally get that."

"I don't--I don't want to say anything to Tyler until I know for sure. And by that, I mean not until after I talk to my doctor, or an OB. I shouldn't keep this from him, but I don't want to tell him and have him get his hopes up, only to find out that I'm fucking _fat_ or something."

"Whatever you decide to do, I'll support you, bud." She runs her nails across his scalp, and Josh melts into it. "I do think you should talk to him, but if you aren't ready, then you can wait. It's up to you."

Josh nods, and thanks her for being supportive.

She makes a kissy face at him, and he just laughs.

After that, though, the TV show is cutting to a commercial, and she's nudging him off of her lap, saying, "It's been long enough. You should go check."

And Josh gets up with every intention of checking, but he gets about halfway down the hall before turning around and saying, "You do it."

"It's _your_ lovechild," she remarks with a grunt before making Josh help her up.

"Yeah, and you're my mistress. Go look at it for me."

She snorts at Josh's joke, and he trails behind her as she walks to her bathroom. She swipes the test off of the counter, and holds it to where Josh can't see it. She manages to keep a straight face before flipping it over, and holding it up to his eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

They do the other two tests, both of which come back positive as well, so Ashley quite literally holds Josh's hand while he's on the phone scheduling an appointment with his doctor for that Monday.

Tyler's a little confused, but doesn't bug him about it too much when he says that he's taking his own car to work, rather than the two of them riding together like they usually do.

His doctor--she's nice. She's an older beta, and she's been his doctor since he was in his early twenties, and she's been nothing but kind to him. After the RN on call takes his vitals, he has about five minutes to kill before his doctor is walking in with a smile on her face, asking, "What can I do for you today, Joshua?"

"Um..." He bites the inside of his lip as he thinks of what to say. "My--my mate and I, uh... Shit. Um. Basically, I'm, like, pretty sure I'm pregnant...?"

Her eyebrows go up, but she nods, and pecks away at her computer. "Alright. How far along do you think you are...?"

"Thirteen or fourteen weeks," he mumbles. "I have a friend who's also an omega, and she's pregnant right now too, and she said I should come here and ask for a referral to an obstetrician, since I don't have one, and also an actual test...?"

She clicks her tongue once, types something else down, before scooting back in her swivel chair, and motioning for Josh to stand up. Josh obeys, of course. "Lift your shirt up a bit, if you would."

Again, Josh listens, and lifts his shirt up.

She eyeballs his stomach. "Have you taken any over the counter tests?"

"Three. All of them different brands and different prices. They came back positive."

"And have you had any morning sickness, or moodiness at all...? Weird cravings, or suddenly liking foods that you used to hate...? Any of that?"

He makes a face and drops his shirt before nodding. "Yeah. I thought--I thought maybe I was just getting sick or something, or that my anxiety was getting worse, but... um... I was supposed to have a heat a few weeks ago, and I sort of did, but it was _not_ at all intense like they usually are. It was more like... Yeah, sure, I wanted to fool around with my mate more than I usually do, but it wasn't--it wasn't like it usually is."

"I'm going to do you a favor and save you the cost of another pregnancy test, _but,_ if you'd like, I do know a few obstetricians that I think you'd work well with, all of whom are male omegas who specialize in omega pregnancies."

Josh nods. "I think that's, um, a good idea. Like... Seeing one of them, I guess."

*

Josh sits in his car while he calls the office of the one that has the name that seems easiest to pronounce. He also may or may not look all of them up on Google, and his answer may or may not be based on which one of them was, one, the cutest, and two, seemed the youngest and most approachable. The one he decides to call, Josh was able to find an Instagram account for, and after seeing that he had a few kids of his own and that he was only a few years older than Josh himself, he wastes almost no time in opening the call application on his phone, and typing the dude's office number in, plus the extension provided.

The dude himself sounds super friendly, and he's super sweet when Josh explains that he hasn't told his mate about any of it. _"From the sounds of it, you're probably expecting, and I think our first priority should be you getting an ultrasound done to make sure everything's going alright, especially if you've already managed to make it through your first trimester without realizing."_

"I haven't--I haven't said anything to my mate. I'm sure he'd be cool about it and all, but--"

_"--bring him with you. I don't have any openings until the first, but if you think you can wait until then, I'd love to squeeze you in, and help you tell him. I know this can be scary, but it doesn't need to be."_

Josh lets out a sigh, mostly out of relief, before letting his head tilt back until it's hitting against the back of the seat. "I can wait until the first."

_"Sweet. How does, ah... How does four in the afternoon sound?"_

"Perfect, actually."

 _"Even more sweet. I'll get that all set up, and my receptionist should call you in a few hours to confirm the appointment. I look forward to meeting you in person, Mister Dun!"_ Josh can just hear that the dude is smiling, and he feels oddly comforted by it.

He says his own goodbye, and hangs his phone up before giving himself a good ten minutes or so to decompress before taking himself home. (He's sure to text Debby to give her a heads up, and to tell her that he's not going to be back for the rest of the day.)

*

Josh figures out that if he layers his sweatshirts and jackets right, the _bump_ is hardly visible. If anything, it just looks like he had a big lunch, and Tyler doesn't know any better, so he doesn't get questioned.

Thanksgiving that year is spent with Tyler's family. (Josh's family gets them for Christmas.)

It's not really a notable holiday--everyone gets along, ignoring the fact that Tyler butts heads with Zack a few times, and Josh enjoys himself, at least until he's trapped in another conversation with Tyler's dad while he's helping get leftovers put away after everyone's eaten. He's sliding the rest of the pumpkin pie into the fridge when Tyler's father lowers his voice before speaking. "Josh, do you mind if I ask you something?"

Josh shakes his head. "Not at all. What is it?" He's heading for the dish of cranberry sauce next, and he just about drops it when Tyler's father asks his question.

He's kind enough to keep his voice down to where Josh is the only one who can hear him. "I'm not trying to be nosy, and I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable, son, but are you.... _pregnant?"_

"Would you believe me if I said no?" Josh mumbles back to him before turning around and putting the cranberry sauce in the fridge, if only to give him an excuse to break eye contact for ten seconds or so.

Tyler's father shakes his head 'no' once Josh is looking at him. "Are you? If you are, you're allowed to come to me for any advice, or any questions, and I'll keep my mouth shut."

Josh looks over his shoulder, and when he sees that Tyler's cocked a Nerf gun and is aiming it at Jay, both of whom are in the living room, he rolls his eyes, and nudges his future father in law back a little bit, leading him further into the kitchen to where they definitely can't be heard. "Tyler doesn't know." His voice is barely above a whisper. "I--I only found out a few weeks ago."

Tyler's dad gets stars in his eyes, but he keeps his enthusiasm to himself for the most part. "Do you know how far along you are?"

"Um... Sixteen-ish weeks, I think...? When I say that I'm blind and maybe a little stupid, I mean it, man. Also, please, _please_ don't say anything, not even to Kelly. I love both of you like you're my own parents, and your whole family is lovely and all that, but can this stay between us for now? I'm going to tell Tyler soon, but whenever anyone else finds out, I want it to be on our own terms."

*

"I know tomorrow's your birthday," Josh starts saying as he's sitting on the couch next to Tyler, tucked into his side, "but I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and I'd really appreciate it if you went with me."

"What time is the appointment? I have a consultation with a couple tomorrow, but as long as it's before noon, or after one, I could totally go with you."

"It's at four in the afternoon, so I don't, uh... I don't think it's going to be an issue." Josh swallows a few times, feeling his heart in his throat. "I'd appreciate the moral support, I guess."

"Sounds good. Can I ask why you're going...?"

Josh, somehow, by the grace of God, manages to pull an excuse out of his ass. "You remember that last heat I had? I'm going to a doctor who specializes in, um, stuff like that, just to make sure I don't have some weird hormone imbalance."

"Ah. That does sound like it'd be important to know, honestly." Tyler adjusts his position, and holds Josh a little closer. "So, four tomorrow, right?"

Josh nods. "Yep."

"Sweet."

*

Tyler's absolutely clueless, and although Josh gets frustrated by his cluelessness sometimes, today, it's something of a blessing. He's more than happy to sit patiently in the waiting room when a nurse is calling Josh's name from a clipboard.

The nurse takes his vitals, and checks his weight and height, and asks him a handful of routine questions, and once she has her answers, she's leading him to an exam room, and telling him to stay put while she lets _the doctor_ know he's there and that he's waiting.

The obstetrician walks in within minutes, and Josh was not expecting him to have his scrubs layered over a sweatshirt, nor did he expect him to walk in carrying a fucking energy drink. If anything, he feels a lot more comfortable seeing that the slightly older omega is dressed so casually. "You're the guy who needed help telling his mate, right?" is the first thing he asks.

"You _remembered?"_

He nods, and he looks _excited._ "Of course. I don't mean to be unprofessional or anything, but one of my favorite parts of this job is getting to tell people that they're going to be parents." He has such a warm smile on his face, and Josh is finding out that he definitely made the right choice when picking an obstetrician. _"So..."_ He types something into the computer in the room, and seems to skim something before asking a handful of his own questions. "Have you had any pain at all?"

Josh shakes his head. "Not really. Just a little bit of cramping here and there, and my back has been a little sore lately, but otherwise, no. No pain."

"The cramping isn't frequent, is it?"

"No, no. Like, maybe every few days...? It's mostly just pretty dull, and honestly if I didn't know any better, I'd just say it felt like I was constipated. Hell, it could just be that in the first place." Josh shrugs, and picks at his thumbnail. "I haven't ever had a moment where I've thought, _'Oh shit, something's wrong.'_ I _did_ have an 'oh shit' moment last month, though, when I looked in a mirror." He says the last part as a joke, and the obstetrician chuckles.

"You know, man, it happens. Happened to me with my last kid. Didn't bother with protection, and a few months later I looked in the mirror, like, _huh..._ When did I get fat?" He _actually_ laughs a little bit now, and shakes his head. "Anyways... Would you mind if I took a look...?" He gestures towards Josh's stomach.

Josh shakes his head, and stands up. He hikes his shirt up, and looks down at his stomach himself. He feels blood rushing to his head, and he has a moment where he thinks he's going to faint, but he powers through it, breathing deeply and trying to ground himself.

Josh holds his shirt up as he watches the obstetrician walk around the room to grab something, and Josh doesn't realize what it was that he'd grabbed until he's unraveling it, revealing it to be a tape measure. Josh looks to his left as his stomach is being measured, and he listens as best as he can as the doctor is mumbling to himself before typing something into his computer.

Josh lets his shirt drop before sitting on top of the exam table again. It's silent in the room, at least up until the obstetrician is saying, "So... The next step here would be for you to get an ultrasound done..." as he finishes typing something. "Does your mate happen to be here with you...? This is the sort of thing couples like to do together."

Josh nods. "Yeah, um. He's in the waiting room. He's kind of... He's not stupid, but he hasn't really caught on to the exact reason I'm here...? If he knew, he would've asked me about it by now."

"He's an alpha?" The obstetrician gives him a knowing look.

Josh rolls his eyes a little bit, and nods. "He's sweet, but... Y'know how alphas are."

"Been with mine since high school. I'm well aware. How would you like to break the news to him?"

"Do you think it'd be possible to surprise him...?" Josh chews on the inside of his cheek, and furrows his eyebrows a bit. "Like... Fudge up a reason as to why I want him in there with me while I get, y'know... an _ultrasound,_ and surprise him by being like, _'Haha, hey, you're gonna be a dad!'_ Also, ah... It's his birthday today too."

"Oh, for real? That's awesome. This is, like, the perfect birthday present. You wanna go grab him real quick, and we can walk down there and get everything squared away?"

Josh nods, and slides off of the exam table once more. He exits the room, and only gets lost for a few seconds while he's trying to remember which direction to go in to get to the waiting room. Tyler's face lights up once Josh is in the waiting room again, and Josh doesn't have to say anything before the alpha is getting up, and walking towards him, asking, "Is that it?"

Josh shakes his head. "Um. No. You wanna come with me for a sec...? It's just--they think there might be something wrong, and--and I want you to be there with me, y'know?" Josh is shifting back and forth and although his nerves are for a different reason, the emotions he's portraying are still very real, and Tyler doesn't even think to question him before nodding and agreeing, and letting Josh lead him by the hand back through a short maze of hallways.

The obstetrician leads them down a long corridor to a different part of the clinic, not saying much, and Josh can tell that he's trying not to smile, or do anything that would give away what's _actually_ going on.

Tyler, somehow, doesn't realize what's going on for a lot longer than Josh thought it would take him. He can see the exact moment he realizes, though. Josh is on his back on another exam table with his shirt pulled up, the obstetrician is going over his lower abdomen with the transducer, and Tyler goes from frowning in confusion at the screen, not understand what he's supposed to be seeing, to _shock._

He doesn't yell or swear or have some sort of extreme reaction, at least not right off the bat, but he quietly asks, "What is that...?" as he points. Josh can basically see the cogs turning in his head as realization is dawning upon him.

"Well..." The obstetrician starts, without looking up at either of them, as he's pressing _something_ and a rhythmic _whooshing_ noise fills the room; "in about five months or so, it will be a healthy baby boy."

Josh's chin starts quivering, and he has tears in his eyes when Tyler looks at him to make sure that the obstetrician isn't lying for whatever reason. He's smiling as the first few tears fall, and says, "Happy birthday, Tyler."

*

"Tyler, are you... okay...?" Josh looks over to him while they're at a stop light on the way home. Tyler's staring at a spot on the dashboard, obviously spacing out. "You haven't said anything since you found out. Are you--you're not mad, are you?"

Tyler looks him in the eye, and, _oh._ He's tearing up. He's quick to shake his head. "No, dude, no. Not at all. It's just--it's just a lot to take in, and I wasn't really expecting it...? Like, I was suspicious and all, but I just--I didn't want to get my hopes up or anything. We can talk about it more when we get home, man."

*

They talk about it more in depth while taking a bath together.

Tyler takes the faucet side of the tub, while Josh gets the more comfortable side, and for the most part, they just sit in there, letting the water envelop them in its comforting warmth. Josh has his legs crossed, and propped up with his feet on the wall next to Tyler's head, and Tyler has either of his legs on either side of Josh's body.

"And you're _sure_ this isn't some sort of fucked up joke?"

"I did not spend the past four months wondering why the fuck I've been _sickly_ yet look as healthy as ever for you to accuse me of lying about it, you dick." Josh roles his eyes. "It's not a joke."

"Just making sure," Tyler mumbles back to him as he adjusts his position, running a hand up and down one of Josh's calves. "I don't have the words to express how over the moon I am about this. I think I need a few days to process it. Jesus. It's like I'm so happy that my body is just shutting down, I swear."

"It's kind of a pretty huge bomb to drop on you. Um. I--I probably could've found better ways of doing it." Josh sniffs a bit, since his nose is a little stuffed. "Sorry."

"Hey, hey. Don't be sorry. I'm not mad at you, at all. You have nothing to be sorry for. Stuff like this is hard to talk about, so I totally understand how you went about it. Can I--can I ask how long you've known?"

"Not long. Uh. I realized something was up in the beginning of last month, and I like... _Knew_ I guess for that month...? I had to wait a few weeks for that OB to have an opening that he could squeeze me into, so that's, um, why I decided to wait. Also, your dad knows. He--he asked, and he's so nice, man. I didn't have it in myself to lie to him. Uh. He promised not to say anything, but... I dunno how good he is at secrets."

"Well, my mom definitely knows if you told him, but she's shut like a steel trap, so aside from her, I wouldn't worry. Does anyone else knows?"

"Blue Hair Ashley, but she's a given. She's, uh, who I went to first, and she basically held my hand through it."

Tyler nods.

"Also, I didn't--I didn't want to tell you at first, because... Well, what if I went to a doctor, and found out I was just fat or something, and got your hopes up for nothing, y'know? That would've crushed both of us."

"Like I said, Josh, I'm not mad. I love you, man. I mean, we're gonna be spending the rest of our lives together, so if I got mad at you over something like this... Shit, what the fuck are we going to do when we have _more_ kids? If--if that's something you want, of course."

"Let's see how we do with one first, but... I agree."

"That's totally fair. I don't know if a bathtub is the place to have this conversation, but I've sort of--I've wanted kids for awhile now, like, before I even met you, and y'know... I thought I was going to have that with Jenna, and I'm not gonna lie, like... We were preparing to go through with that stuff, but like I've told you, we kept finding excuses to put off claiming each other or moving in together, and I was kind of at a point to where I just thought I was never going to have that. My parents had me when they were in their early twenties, and there's been a lot of pressure on me to live up to that. I know this is--this is bad, but I felt so... I kind of felt like a disappointment when my brother had his first kid. Like, I was _so_ happy for him, because aside from him being a dick to me sometimes, I know that's something he'd always wanted, so, y'know, I was _happy_ for him, but I'm, what... Five years older than him? I felt like I should've _done that_ already."

"We've both said it, but everyone moves at their own pace. I'm honestly not disappointed that it's taken either of us this long to get to this point."

"I'm not disappointed either. I think my point is that I'm excited beyond belief, but I just wasn't expecting it to, one, happen this soon, or two, for me to even be lucky enough to have it happen at all. I mean, hell, for awhile there I wasn't even sure I'd--I'd find someone that I could have this type of relationship with. I mean, _sure,_ I've been hopeful and all that optimistic shit, but pretty much everyone is mated and has a kid or two by the time they're my age."

"Dude, you're thirty. You're not that old."

Tyler rolls his eyes, and gets Josh in the side with his knee. (Gently, of course.) "At least it's now, while both of us have the resources to prepare for it."

"And both of us have supportive families and parents willing to babysit."

"Speaking of families--how are we going to... y'know... _tell_ them?"

Josh sinks further into the water, until it reaches just under his nose. He gently shakes his head, and Tyler rolls his eyes.

"We cannot keep this from our families, man. With the exception of my parents, since... they know."

Josh lifts his head up to speak. "Christmas? My parents get us for Christmas, so, like... I dunno. Maybe _that_ can be their Christmas present...?"

"It would be awfully sappy for us to do that..." Tyler trails off, and shrugs a little bit. "What about this weekend? Jenna's organizing my birthday party, and, man... I feel like somehow, she's going to _know."_

"Yeah, and I don't think cleverly placed jackets are going to cover it up for much longer." Josh sits up properly again. "Should we get out? My fingers are all pruney."

Tyler lifts his own fingers up, and looks at them. "So are mine, man."

*

After their bath, either of them dress in the most comfortable outfit they own (sweatpants and an old, oversized t-shirt for Josh, and shorts and a sweatshirt for Tyler) before heading downstairs. Josh makes Tyler sit on the couch while he clambers around in the kitchen for a few moments before coming back into the living room, carrying a plate that contains two cupcakes. They're _big_ cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes, with teal, vanilla frosting, and one of them has two candles poking out of it, forming the number thirty.

Josh sets the plate onto the coffee table, and gives Tyler a kiss on the mouth before he's opening one of the drawers on the coffee table, and sifting through the contents of it before he's able to produce a spare lighter. (Josh keeps lighters around the household, despite the fact that he doesn't, and actually _can't_ smoke anymore.)

He sits next to Tyler, and smiles when the alpha's arm wraps around his waist. He leans forward, and it takes a few tries before he's able to produce a flame from the lighter. He lights the candles, then leans back, and motions for Tyler to blow them out, quietly saying, "Make a wish."

"Aren't you gonna sing me happy birthday?" Tyler looks to Josh, eyebrows raised a bit.

Josh rolls his eyes. "Dude, I got up at like three in the morning to make these cupcakes. I think you can live without me singing you a tone deaf happy birthday."

Tyler smiles, and sneaks in a quick kiss, before reaching out for the cupcake to pick it up. He holds it in his hand, seeming to contemplate his wish, before blowing the candles out. Josh picks the candles out of the cupcake for him, and after kissing him on the cheek, he asks, "What did you wish for?"

Tyler shakes his head before peeling the paper back from the cupcake. "If I tell you, it won't come true."

"Oh, c'mon. I wanna know." Josh scoots a little closer to Tyler and wraps his arms around the alpha's waist. He rests his face on his shoulder, with his cheek pressed against it. "What'd you wish for, Ty?"

"I don't wanna sound corny, but... Numerous things."

"Tell me."

Josh sees Tyler's face soften, at least what he can see of it from where his face is pressed against his shoulder, and he feels his mate's body relax as he explains. "It wasn't... Well, I didn't really wish for anything for myself. I wished for you to be safe and happy and healthy, because I know how important a smooth pregnancy can be for a parent. I watched my dad go through three of them. I also wished for our little baby boy to come out happy and healthy, and... It's stupid, but..." Tyler reaches forward to set his cupcake back down on the plate before he's pressing both of his palms to his eyes. He inhales and exhales shakily a few times and Josh holds him tighter. Tyler removes his palms from his eyes so he can stare down at his hands. "I just really, _really_ want to do right by you and this kid. I hope I can grow into a person who's _worthy_ of all these good things."

"Tyler, bud, you are worthy, okay?" Josh can feel his chin quivering a little bit and his eyes starting to sting as he picks his head up off of the alpha's shoulder. "You're gonna be a good dad, as am I, and you're already worthy of every good thing that's happening to you right now. I know it's all happening a lot sooner than either of us planned, but doesn't everything happen for a reason? Isn't that something you believe in?"

Tyler nods and glances at Josh.

"Then there we go. We're going to have this kid, and we're gonna be kick-ass parents."

"I think of all the decisions I've ever made, bringing you flowers was the best one."

*

Later that night, when they're getting ready for bed, Josh catches Tyler staring at him. Or, more specifically, staring at his stomach. He isn't even trying to hide it, and Josh winds up mumbling, "... Do you want me to take my shirt off...? You're staring at me pretty hard bro."

"I don't want to be weird." Tyler looks insecure and his cheeks are a little red.

"I hate to break it to you, Tyler, but you were a second party in all... _this."_ Josh gestures at his own stomach a little bit. "If you want me to take my shirt off so you can look, it's okay. I mean, I've spent plenty of time staring at myself. It's cool if you do too."

Tyler winds up sitting on the side of the bed, and after peeling his sweatshirt off, leaving him in his own t-shirt, he motions Josh over to stand in front of him. Josh doesn't say anything before he's taking his shirt off, nice and slow. He's not making a show out of it, but he's not in a hurry to get the shirt off either.

The first thing Tyler does is hold his hand up, letting it hover over Josh's stomach. He looks up and into his mate's eyes, as if to ask permission.

Josh nods, and gently takes hold of Tyler's wrist, tugging the alpha's hand closer to his stomach. Tyler's palms are sweaty and a little cold, and it makes Josh's muscles quiver, especially when he slides his hand around a bit. "I feel like I'm gonna hurt him," Tyler mumbles.

Josh shakes his head. "You aren't. Honestly, if I got through the past four and a half months without realizing what was going on, only to have everything check out and for him to be healthy, this little dude can survive anything. I think he can handle you touching me."

"This is so weird."

Josh can't help smiling as he agrees with him. "I know. It's still weird to me, that in a year I went from sort of _not_ liking you to... _this._ It's _so_ weird."

Tyler nods, and he looks as if he's about to respond, but instead, he removes his hand from Josh's stomach so he can scrub at his eyes. He's _crying,_ and Josh runs gentle fingers through his hair. "I don't even know why _I'm_ the one crying."

"Tyler... This is all highly overwhelming, and I totally understand the waterworks. If you need to cry, you're allowed. I'm totally down to console you."

Tyler whines a little bit, and even if he's close to blatantly sobbing, he still grins. "Can we cuddle or something?"

"Absolutely."

*

Tyler's birthday party is that Saturday, and the guest list winds up including Jenna and Mark, Ashley, Tyler's parents, and Tyler's siblings.

It's a fairly eventful birthday party.

The two of them decide to use Tyler's birthday cake to reveal the big _secret._ (Ashley and Tyler's parents all three know already, of course.) The cake itself is beautiful in its own right--it's a triple layer cake, vanilla flavored, colored blue with blue food coloring, and the frosting is the perfect contrast--it's chocolate. Josh even took the time to work his magic while he was piping decorations onto the cake. there's blue frosting roses across the cake, and their reveal is rather subtle. Rather than writing anything that was _too_ obvious, at least to anyone in the room who didn't already know, Josh just used frosting to write the symbol for _male_ on top of the cake, in blue icing.

Ashley's the first to understand it, and she looks up at Josh with wide but excited eyes, a grin spreading across her face. She doesn't say anything, though.

Jenna's the next to react or to say anything. "Why in the world would you put the symbol for male on top of the cake...?" She looks confused, and, honestly, so does everyone else in the room who doesn't already know.

"Because," Tyler starts as he turns around in his seat a little bit to face towards Josh, who is standing next to him. "It's a boy."

"What's a boy?" Mark asks, mostly for clarification, to make sure that they aren't fucking around.

"The fetus in my belly."

The room is so quiet after that a pin dropping on the linoleum of the kitchen would've been deafening. It stays like that for about ten seconds, which is how long it takes for Jenna to start crying before she's walking across the room to tug both Tyler and Josh into a bone crushing hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the chapter after this one will be the last one :( im sad i like this fic


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i gotta restart my laptop which means i have to close all my word documents so heres the last chapter xx

Josh is able to disguise his little secret, so to speak, with large sweaters and clever sitting positions when he and Tyler are visiting his parents for Christmas. His parents raise a few eyebrows when they see that his present to them is rather flat, but when everyone settles into the living room to open presents, things start making a little more sense, at least for them.

His mom promptly bursts into tears when she realizes what's going on, and both Josh and Tyler are on the receiving end of two bone crushing hugs from Josh's father. Everyone is so _happy_ for them, and although Josh knows he should've expected it, he's still a little touched and a little weepy over it.

*

Once their families and their close friends--their _inner circle--_ are aware of the whole situation, the one with Josh carrying an actual baby, he's more than happy to be open about it, and to quit wearing sweatshirts and jackets indoors. (Well, maybe not sweatshirts, since it's in the middle of January, and since he gets cold easily, despite how high he cranks the heating.)

*

"I keep going between being _thrilled_ to being filled with the purest form of fear," Tyler admits into the top of Josh's head while they're cuddling one night. They're both sleepy, and watching a movie on the TV in the room before actually sleeping.

"Me too," Josh says back.

"I'm just afraid I'm going to be a lousy parent. I feel like I'm just... not prepared."

"Neither of us are really prepared, Ty. Even if this was all... planned, there's only so much preparing we'd be able to do." Josh shrugs, and adjusts his position to be more comfortable. "I think you'll be a good dad. If I had any doubt in my mind about that... Well... I dunno. I don't think we'd be lying in bed watching a movie even talking about this."

"I just really don't want to disappoint anyone."

"I don't expect you to be perfect," He mumbles. "I mean, man... I share those fears. We'll figure it out together. This whole situation is, like, a joint effort, or whatever."

*

Josh has a moment in a Walmart in the middle of January where he feels like he _finally_ has that kind of life that he wants, or that it's at least within reach. He's flipping through a stack of baby clothes, and he can tell that Tyler's a little bored, which is why he's not at all surprised when Tyler kisses him on the cheek, and tells him that he's going to go get something that he needs for his greenhouse, something that's in a different part of the store, before walking off. (He's walking fast, of course. He wouldn't dare leave Josh on his own for more than a few minutes.)

Josh tugs a onesie that's meant to look like a teddy bear from the stack of baby clothes, and he's mentally cooing at it, because, hey, it's _adorable,_ when there's a hand slamming down onto the shelf next to where Josh is standing.

He jumps. He'd heard the footsteps, of course, but he wasn't expecting for the footsteps to turn into an alpha getting into his personal space, nor was he expecting the alpha to be leaning forward, and asking, "What the hell kind of alpha do you have that leaves a knocked up omega all on his own?" in a patronizing tone.

Josh's first reaction is to raise his eyebrows, and to ask, "Excuse me?"

Josh was hoping for a response, or for the strange alpha to realize that he's being a tool, but instead, the man raises his hand up, and touches the side of Josh's neck, just over exactly where Josh _knows_ Tyler's bite is. He feels as if there's a swarm of beetles crawling all over his skin, and his first reflex is to smack the man's hand away, and to say, "Don't fucking touch me, asshole."

The alpha takes a step closer to Josh, his expression souring. "You really must have a lousy alpha if he didn't teach you to _behave."_ Josh hasn't really ever had too many experiences with alphas getting in his face like this, and he figures it could be worse, but he still feels his heart hammering in his chest and his hands shaking as he runs through a list of plans he'd made up in his head were he to ever get into a situation like this.

He's about two seconds off from reeling back and throwing a punch when he hears Tyler's footsteps stomping down the aisle.

He's a little shocked at how fast he goes from being scared, to being relieved. Tyler's _growling,_ and although Josh knows that sometimes alphas growl, he wasn't expecting it. (It scares him a little bit, too.) Tyler digs his fingers into the strange alpha's arm, and uses his _order_ voice to tell him to _fuck off_ , and to _go away._

 _Thankfully,_ the strange alpha gets the hint, and does as he's told. Just as his back disappears behind another aisle, Tyler's growls intensify, before dying off completely. He turns around, and looks Josh over, even sniffs him, before asking. "Are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Josh shakes his head. "I'm fine. Haven't had an alpha get in my face like that in a few years," he mutters. "Especially not after I met you. I wasn't--I wasn't expecting it. It's fine."

Tyler's touch is gentle as he tugs Josh into a hug. They hug for a few moments before Josh is pulling away from him, mostly so he can place the onesie back down on the shelf.

Tyler reaches for it, though, asking, "Why'd you put it back?"

"It's a little expensive."

"So what? I'll pay for it myself. Our child is going to be the cutest goddamn teddy bear you've ever seen."

Josh can't help the grin that's brought to his face. "I guess so."

*

"Not gonna lie, Tyler," Josh starts as he nudges Tyler back until he's lying on the bed with his legs dangling off, and until Josh can easily crawl into his lap to straddle his thighs, "It was kind of hot when you started growling earlier."

"My pure, unadulterated protectiveness over you and our unborn child, and my pure, unadulterated _rage_ towards that _alpha_ turns you on?" Tyler bends an arm behind his head, and rests his other hand on Josh's thigh.

Josh smirks, and nods. "Yeah. Even if it was kind of scary... I dunno, man. You're hot when you're pissed." He shrugs next, and begins unbuttoning Tyler's shirt. "Whenever you're all protective and possessive over me, it just reminds me that you love me and shit, and it's hot."

Tyler waits until Josh gets to the last button on his shirt before he tells him to lie on his back. While Josh is getting himself comfortable, Tyler lets his shirt drop slip off of his shoulders, and winds up flinging it in the general direction of the laundry hamper.

He takes Josh's t-shirt from him when it's being handed to him, and throws it in the direction of the hamper as well. (Josh's shirt actually makes it. Tyler's hadn't.) "If I can be honest, now... You look hot like this." Tyler has a hand on Josh's stomach, and he even bends down to press a kiss against it.

"I look like a beached whale."

"No you don't." Tyler rolls his eyes. "You look all... fatherly. Also... I'd be more concerned if you _weren't_ gaining weight, man." Tyler kisses his belly again. "If you think I'm hot when I'm angry, then I can think you're hot when you're pregnant."

"It's so weird to think that by May, we're gonna be _parents._ None of this is happening how I thought it would, but, man... I don't care. I'm excited anyways."

Tyler nods. His next kiss to Josh's stomach is lower, just below his belly button. "Maybe the next time you call me Daddy, it'll be true."

Josh scoffs, and gets Tyler in the side with his leg. "Shut up. That happened once, and it was an accident."

Tyler smiles, and kisses just above the waistband of his pants. "Whatever you say, Joshua."

*

"Shouldn't you be at home?" Josh asks when he looks up from where he's sorting out everyone's hours for the next month, to see Ashley walking in, or waddling, really. "You're due, like, any second now."

"This baby has been in me for nine months, and is more than welcome to leave any time she sees fit," She tells him. "If she decides to come out while I'm in your bakery, then fine. It's about time anyways."

Josh shakes his head, and stands up from his stool, scooting it away from himself for her to sit on. "Why are you here?" He goes back to sorting out hours after saying this.

"To talk, and to get away from G. He's been _hovering._ It's annoying."

"He's your alpha, and you're gonna give birth any day now. Can you blame him?"

"No, but I can barely get up without him having a fucking panic attack, I swear." She rolls her eyes, and grunts as she's seating herself on the stool. "Has Tyler been any different since he found out?"

"More protective, and more willing to do favors for me, but otherwise, not really. Though... He has been bringing me snacks every day. It's like he's courting me. _Again."_

"That's cute. Does he have a fetish for fat people?"

Josh cackles a little bit, and after handing Debby another order for her to fulfill, he answers her. "I don't think so. I mean, he'd be attracted to me either way, I think, but he gets super worried about whether or not I'm eating properly, which is totally fair. He brings me water sometimes, too. It's super sweet. Also... have you picked a name out for your own spawn, yet?"

"Ashley Two: Electric Boogaloo," She deadpans.

"I am not letting you name your kid after an _It's Always Sunny_ episode." Josh gives her a look.

"Fine, fine. I was _actually_ thinking about... Juliet. I've been watching a bunch of movies and shows based on _Romeo and Juliet_ lately, and, if I can be honest with you... It's a nice name. Have you decided on a name for _your_ spawn?"

Josh shakes his head. "Not really. We've thrown a handful of ideas around, but only a few have stuck." He's about to rattle off a list of names, but then Tyler walks in, carrying a bottle of water, a granola bar, and an orange, and Josh just smiles a little bit to himself before forgetting about what he was going to say.

*

Their Valentine's day is spent in one of the extra bedrooms, Josh sitting on the floor watching something on his phone, and Tyler cursing at the stupid crib instructions. (Josh would help, but Tyler won't let him.) "These instructions suck."

"Of course they do. They came from IKEA. If you would let me _help,_ I could probably build it myself."

Tyler shakes his head. "Too heavy, and your well being is of utmost importance to me."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Man, I'm sorry for the lousy Valentine's." Tyler throws his screwdriver onto the floor.

"The roses and the chocolates were romantic enough, Ty." Josh scoot across the floor, until he can lean over and meet Tyler half way in a kiss. "The date we went on last year was fun, but I'm okay with putting together a nursery with you this year."

"And, last year, I wasn't even sure we were going to work out. Like... I dunno. Last year we were sat in a restaurant, not knowing if we were going to work out, and _this year,_ we're sat on the floor of the extra bedroom in our house, the loves of each others lives, turning it into a nursery for our _son_ that's due in, like, two months. _Two months!_ That's insane!"

"Okay, although all of that was incredibly romantic--I literally told you I loved you on Valentine's last year, and you're sitting here telling me that you didn't know it was going to work out?" Josh raises his eyebrows, and cocks his head a bit. He's grinning too, of course.

"Look-- _look--_ you have to take into consideration that I was with Jenna for freaking ever and we were planning on having a life together before we broke up. You never know, man. For all I know, we could've gotten into a huge fight and never spoke to each other again that very night."

"Instead, I sucked you off and we said that we loved each other."

Tyler sticks his tongue out at Josh.

*

Starting near the end of February, Josh only goes into work two or three times a week, mostly just to check up on things, and to see if Debby needs any help. (Josh offered her a fairly sizable raise in exchange for her taking over managerial duties in his place.)

Josh is siting in his own living room during the first week of March, folding laundry, and visiting with his mother, who'd been there to drop off a few gifts. (Namely baby clothes that she'd taken the time to knit for him and Tyler. Josh may or may not have started tearing up when she'd handed him the gift, only to blame it on his stupid pregnancy hormones.)

"Have you started nesting yet?" She asks.

Josh asks her to clarify, because to him, nesting means literally building a nest out of blankets and pillows to spend a heat in, or for comfort. His cheeks are red out of embarrassment at the mere concept of his mother asking about _that._

"Not like that," She teases. "As in cleaning and organizing. When I was pregnant with you--" she proceeds to talk about how she spent a good _month_ just cleaning and organizing and reorganizing her home in preparation for him, and about how it supposedly drove his father up a wall.

"I mean... a little bit, but I'm always cleaning and organizing stuff." He shrugs. "It has been a little more intense lately, though. Tyler's commented on it, at least, so... Who knows. I think so, though. We spent a good week last month building the nursery, and that started it. Since then I've had this, like, urge to clean more than usual. Tyler's been nesting a little bit too."

"Oh?" She raises her eyebrows.

Josh nods. "Yep. He bought a few more succulents for the nursery, saying that as our baby grows, so will the plants. He's kind of goofy, but I love it." He sighs happily, and folds a pair of sweatpants belonging to his mate. "Mostly he's just been hovering. Before Ashley had her baby, she talked about her mate hovering, and Tyler's doing the same thing. He's not too bad about it, but he acts as if he _has_ to help me up every time I get up off the couch or bed. It's cute, but it's a little much sometimes."

"Your father was the exact same way," she reminisces. "Wanting to do everything for me that last month. He wasn't nearly as bad about it with your siblings, though, so if you ever decide to bless me with more grandchildren, at least you'll have that to look forward to."

Josh snorts. "Ma, please. This one wasn't even planned, and you're already talking about _more?"_

"Yes, I am."

*

"My mom is already hinting at us having _more_ children," Josh grumbles that night while Tyler's rubbing lotion into his belly for him. "This one wasn't even planned, nor is he even born yet, and already she's demanding more."

"I think we should see how we do with one baby before we have another one," Tyler comments.

"Exactly. My mom had me, and within a few months she was pregnant with Ashley, so although I get why she thinks I'm going to want more kids so soon... I doubt it. Do you know how bad my back has been hurting, man? And do you _know_ how excited I am to sleep on my stomach again?"

"I'm excited to get a full night's sleep without you getting up and down to pee."

"And I'm excited to also not only have to _not_ do that, but to not have to hear you complain about it either." Josh props himself up to give Tyler an unimpressed sort of look.

Tyler gives him a sheepish grin. "Sorry."

Josh grunts, and lies flat again. "It would work better if _you_ were the omega, because I sleep like a fucking rock. Like, you could totally get up and down to pee every few hours, and I'd sleep right through it."

"I think it's my fatherly senses that make me a light sleeper."

"So that means you're willing to get up and take care of our infant in the middle of the night while I rest?"

"For the first month or so, I'm totally willing to do that, because you're going to need to recover, or whatever, but after that, we gotta take turns, man."

Josh holds his hand out to Tyler, and when Tyler takes it to shake it, he says, "It's a deal."

*

Jenna has the last half of March off of school, and is more than willing to hang out with Josh during the day, since Tyler can't afford to stay home. (Not that he wouldn't love to, of course, but the economy sucks, and he'd prefer for his flower shop to stay in business.)

They're on the couch watching a rerun of Six Feet Under, the name Nathan is solidifying in Josh's head, and Jenna leans on him as her hand gravitates to his belly. Josh hikes his t-shirt up for her, and she asks, "What's it like?"

"What's _what_ like?"

"Being pregnant, I guess."

"It was fun for the first six months, four of which I was unaware that I was even knocked up. I mean... I'm not having a bad time, but I can't really _do_ anything. My feet are swollen all the goddamn time, and it takes everything in me to even go check up on my bakery once a week. Overall, the experience has been pleasant, though."

"I'm glad that it's been pleasant for you. How's Tyler handling it? I mean, he talks to me, but he only tells me so much."

"He's sweet, and doesn't dare let me lift a finger. He pretty much built all the furniture for the nursery, and I sat there and gave him moral support while he did it. Emotionally... He seems to be holding up. We both have anxiety about the whole... ordeal, I guess, and I do have to talk some sense into him sometimes, but he's handling it pretty well."

She nods, and she's about to say something else, but ends up saying, _"Aww,_ he's kicking," instead.

Josh feels pride bloom across his chest. "He's been doing it a lot lately. It's not so charming when it's four in the morning and I'm trying to sleep, but it's still pretty freakin' cute."

"I can't wait until he's born, and until I can babysit him and spoil him and buy him all the things you and Tyler won't." She rubs her thumb in a half circle on Josh's belly, just as there's another _kick._

"I'll take all the help I can get."

*

Josh wakes up on the third of April feeling a little off, but he doesn't question it.

He showers and gets dressed, and even takes a short nap on the way from the house to the street either he or Tyler work on, and he's in the middle of eating a muffin while he's placing a few orders for baking ingredients on the computer in his office when he realizes _why_ he's feeling _off._

He's used to having Braxton Hicks contractions by now, but after a particularly bad one that makes him gag around a bite of his muffin, he decides to open up a new tab, and to type, _"Difference between Braxton Hicks and real contractions,"_ into the search bar.

The first result reads, _"Braxton Hicks may cause an uncomfortable tightening sensation, but usually are not as painful as the real thing,"_ and after he swallows, he raises his voice to say, "Hey, Debby?" in a tone a lot smoother than he was expecting, without taking his eyes away from the screen.

He hears her sneakers tapping against the hardwood floors, before the door is creaking open, and she's asking, "What's up?"

Josh keeps his eyes glued to the screen. "Do you think you could walk across the street and tell Tyler that I need to go home?"

"Um... I mean, yeah, but... are you alright?"

"Coping with the fact that I'm a dumb ass, and wasn't able to tell the difference between Braxton Hicks and real contractions, but otherwise, I'm alright."

*

There's something beautiful about the way Tyler looks, standing shirtless in the nursery, holding Nathan against his chest and humming something akin to a lullaby. It's a fragile moment, almost, Josh thinks. His footsteps on the carpet are quiet, and he kisses his son's forehead first, then Tyler's cheek, before mumbling, "I see he's not screaming at you for once."

Tyler huffs, and keeps his voice quiet, a murmur. "Yeah. I think he's getting used to my scent. It's about time, too. He's been here for a month already."

Josh nods, and leans on Tyler a little bit, arms slipping around his waist, and resting his cheek on his mate's shoulder. His eyes slip shut, and he yawns and it takes everything in him not to fall asleep on Tyler. Instead, he keeps himself preoccupied by thinking.

He's being coaxed out of his thoughts by Tyler, who adjusts his shoulder to get his attention. "Why are you crying, man?" He's gentle and sympathetic and just so loving and kind and Josh just shakes his head.

"I'm just happy. I'm where I'm supposed to be."

**Author's Note:**

> also similar to how tyler is a vulture that feeds on pain i am a vulture that feeds on comments kudos and attention so please.... feedback... i crave it


End file.
